


The Captain's Nostalgic Heart

by littlelooniepielover



Series: The Captain's Heart [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Althought it's more like bringing back then killing again, Blow Jobs, First Time, Hand Jobs, Implied almost sexual abuse, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor T'Challa/Sam Wilson, Past Abuse, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Steve Rogers, Reunions, Steve is sexually frustrated, They just seriously can't keep their hands off of each other, although it's not really his fault, eventually despite how desperate our dear Cap is, of both the good and bad type, though there's no details about it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-11-05 01:54:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11003553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelooniepielover/pseuds/littlelooniepielover
Summary: They're finally back home.It might have taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but they're home. Their family is slowly stitching back together, hatchets have been buried, and Steve and Bucky are on Cloud 9.But, as what always happens in Steve's life, that happiness can never last for very long. Not without someone showing up and ruining it. A long-lost friend is reunited with them, though not too far behind follow enemies long-since dead, ones who want to take everything they've built and literally bring it down on top of their heads.And meanwhile all Steve wants is to lose is God damn virginity!





	1. Chapter 1

One year.

One year and seven months since The Accords.

One year and three months since Bucky was freed from HYDRA’s hold.

One year since Stark made the call Steve feared would never come.

More than that though—it’d been just under one year since Bucky was officially dubbed a POW for the second time in his overly long life, no longer considered a willing-participant in HYDRA’s doings. 

It was a long fight, one that started with Ross dropping the charges on Steve and his team, only if Bucky was officially put on trial for his crimes as the Winter Soldier. He was detained, for almost four months, while Stark ( _which Steve still has trouble believing_ ) pulled out all of the cards he had hidden up his sleeve to prove he’d only been a brainwashed, tortured, and unwilling participant. It was definitely a fight for the books too, Ross’ prosecutor using every low-blow argument he could to try and paint Bucky as the monster HYDRA tried to create. With each passing day Steve was growing more and more anxious, and less and less hopeful; he just wanted Bucky _home_. In the end, it was Natasha who brought forward their best evidence. The one that officially won them the case. And where did she receive this massive pile of information defending Bucky? From HYDRA’s worst enemy.

Rune.

Once again, even in the afterlife, she was still fighting to rescue James Buchanan Barnes. To keep her promise. After presenting a pile of HYDRA’s secrets, all the experiment and torture details released on Project Winter Soldier, images of the cryo chamber, videos of Bucky strapped in that godforsaken chair, and even multiple videos of what Rune, one of his primary handlers, could do with her gift, the Jury barely deliberated for thirty minutes. The charges brought up against him for his crimes were dropped, and he was officially considered a, now free, POW.

Even better? After the trial, and the actions he tried to take towards Wakanda for harboring Steve and the others, Ross’ credit went sharply down the drain, which meant everyone who had hope in The Accords, were wavering. So, currently, the original contract was being redone, rewritten, and this time with the opinions of those it was trying to leash in the first place. Blurred lines were cleared, and compromises were made. Slowly, but surely, the Avengers were stitching back together. And how did Stark celebrate this long-awaited homecoming? By allowing them back to the Avengers complex. Things were still tense sometimes, especially between Stark and Bucky, but it was getting better. Especially after they were given a better understanding as to why exactly Steve fought so hard against them in the first place. It’s one thing when you’re fighting against a change in the law, but a completely other thing when you’re fighting for the love of your life.

“Steve.”

Steve grumbled before shoving his head beneath his pillow, burrowing deeper into the sheets. “No.”

“Come on, Stevie. Wake up!” Bucky attempted again. When Steve still didn’t move, trying to be as still as possible in hopes that maybe he’d go away, Bucky retaliated by sitting on him. “I ain’t leaving.”

“Ugh, you’re heavy.”

“That’s the point.”

Steve lasted another five minutes before finally retracting his head. “Ok, ok, Jesus. You’re like an elephant.”

“If you mean an awesome elephant who made his extremely grumpy boyfriend breakfast, then yes. Yes I am.”

Steve barely fought back his smile as he squinted an eye up at the beaming brunet. “Why are you awake already?”

“Because it’s, like, ten. You’ve literally slept the morning away.”

“Good.”

“Someone is cranky this morning,” Bucky muttered, the weight suddenly slipping from Steve’s back. A second later, the sheets were yanked sharply away. He let out a long whine as he made an attempt to curl into himself for warmth, only to have Bucky slide back on top of him. This time planting his knees on either side of his hips. “I think I know how to help with that.”

“Yeah? And how—“

He let out a low groan when a pair of warm lips pressed against the top knob of his spine, a pair of mismatched hands gripping his hips. Well now, this was a completely different story. Steve’s fingers dug into the bed as Bucky continued down his back, fingers beginning to curl along the waistband of his boxer-briefs. Fuck, this always felt amazing. Even just the little fleeting touches made his skin buzz in growing excitement, the addition of his mouth only igniting the sensation. “God you’re gorgeous.”

This time he full-on moaned, his hips grinding against the mattress. “Fuck, Bucky.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Bucky grinned against his skin. “Turn over for me, babydoll.”

Steve eagerly scrambled to obey, squirming beneath Bucky’s knees before going pliant against the bed again. As soon as he was finally able to properly see those gray-blue eyes he loved so much though, he sharply jerked him down into a kiss. Bucky smiled into it, one hand lifting to cup his cheek while the other slid over the still-clothed length hardening between his legs. “Please, Buck. _Please_.”

“I’ve got you. Just relax, alright?”

Slowly Bucky began to kiss his way down towards his navel, his tongue laving over his right nipple as he slowly began to drag Steve’s boxers off. Bucky loved his chest, and wasn’t afraid of voicing it, either. The attention always made Steve flush like a fucking schoolgirl, but at the same time he couldn’t deny the obsession always turned him on. Hell, everything about Bucky turned him on. Before his brain could narrate any further, cool fingers wrapped around his dick and a set of teeth clamped over his left nipple. He nearly screamed, his right hand sinking sharply into Bucky’s hair as he bit into his bottom lip, hips pressing desperately up into the grip. “Bucky! BuckyBuckyBucky—“

He chanted Bucky’s name like a prayer as his nimble hand sped up, palm curling around the head before dragging back down the shaft. They learned pretty quickly that, when he used the metal hand, Steve never lasted long. It was a struggle for Bucky at first, trusting to touch Steve so intimately with the hand, but as soon as Steve expressed to him how much he’d fantasized about it, he decided to give it a try. And God, the things he could do with that hand. “Beautiful,” Bucky praised as he tried to suck a massive bruise against his collarbone, earning another whine from Steve. “Fucking gorgeous, Stevie. God, look at you.”

The heat was nearly boiling everywhere Bucky was touching him, the shake in his legs signaling how close he was to spilling over the edge. “B-Buck,” he whimpered out, fingers pulling at his hair a little sharper. As perfect as this was, Steve didn’t want it to end here. “Bucky, wait. Wait a minute. Stop.”

Bucky instantly pulled back, his hands jerking away so sharply you’d think he’d been burned. “What happened? Are you alright? Did I hurt you?”

“No, no, you’re perfect,” Steve reached up to kiss him placatingly, Bucky relaxing beneath the touch. “I just—I don’t want to finish yet.”

“Yet?”

Ignoring the flush slowly beginning to spread from his cheeks down to his chest, he shook his head. “No, I want—I want to finish with you inside me.”

“Yeah?” Bucky asked, that grin from earlier returning as he stroked his human hand against Steve’s cheek. “Is this you asking me to fuck you, Steve?”

“I was trying not to be so blunt about it!” Steve whined, shoving his face into Bucky’s shoulder with a sigh. “But yeah, I want you to fuck me.”

“You sure?”

When he lifted his head again, his smile brightened. “I’m always sure when it comes to you.”

“God, I love you,” Buck kissed him, lingering for a few seconds before pulling away and pushing against his chest. “Lay down on your stomach, alright? It’ll be easier to prep you that way.”

It wasn’t the first time they’d tried to do this. After getting the phone call from Tony, things had been a whirlwind with negotiations, the Trial, the fact Bucky had been in containment for four months, moving back into the base, and dealing with the new Accords. Which meant they hadn’t much time for more than quick handjobs and/or blowjobs before they passed out for the night or managed to wake up early enough in the morning. Not to mention the fact that, despite having their own room, there was next to no privacy around here. No, if Steve had his way he’d have already been fucked out of his mind, multiple times. But unfortunately life decided to stretch his virginity out even longer.

Bastards.

At the feeling of his cheeks being spread, the flat of Bucky’s tongue swiping over his entrance, his brain officially shut down. Jesus Christ, that tongue! It didn’t help Bucky knew exactly what to do, how to touch, to make Steve fall apart in his hands. After a few laps the warmth went away, Steve whimpering at the loss. “Calm down, impatient. I just need you to grab the lube from the nightstand,” he said, hand soothing up and down his spine. Steve immediately rummaged through the drawer, returning after a few seconds with a purple bottle. “Good boy.”

Steve involuntarily moaned at the endearment, the flush darkening against his fair skin. He couldn’t help but tense at the sound of the cap popping though, Bucky quietly hushing him. “You gotta relax. We’ve at least gotten through most of this part before.”

Which was true. As soon as the slick digit circled his rim, he willed his body to unbow, a long groan rumbling as it pushed inside. The faint burn was amazing, his hips already beginning to shift to take it even deeper. “More, Buck. Come on.”

Like Bucky said, they’d done this part before. As necessary as prepping was, he wanted more than just his fingers; been wanting more since before the fucking war! God, and once again they were so close. He was beyond hard at this point, precum practically leaking into the sheets, dribbling even more when Bucky added another finger. His hips were moving at their own accord, undulating desperately as a third stretched passed the other two. They were so _close_. The next step was right there. The chance to finally feel Bucky inside him was right—

“Yo, Steve! Bucky!” a harsh knocking came from their front door. “Get up!”

The sudden sound shocked through Steve who, unwillingly, came on the spot. He buried his face into his pillow as the orgasm rippled through him, Bucky fingering him through it with soft encouragements. When he finally went limp against the bed is when he retracted his fingers, Steve whining at the loss. “So, that was new.”

“Shut-up.

“We are definitely coming back to that later, but right now I am going to answer the door before Sam tries to come in and we traumatize him any further than we already have.” Steve nodded, but was too embarrassed to lift his face from the pillow. He vaguely heard Bucky and Sam talking, the door shutting a few minutes later. “Hey,” Bucky ran his metal fingers through his hair. “You ok?”

“What did Sam want?”

“To remind us about training in fifteen minutes. We’re on firearms today.”

“Great,” Steve mumbled before rolling over onto his back. “Why is it so fucking hard to have sex around here? I mean, seriously, Buck! We’d have had an easier time with our paper-thin walls back at our apartment in Brooklyn!”

Bucky grinned, brushing the sweat soaked fringe from his forehead. “We’ll get there, Steve. I promise. In the meantime, we need to shower and get to the shooting range.”

“I’m blowing you while we’re in there, just so you know.”

“Won’t find me complaining about that!”

Being back at the base for Steve felt like he’d never left at all, really. There were still reports, training, assessments, occasional minor-missions ( _most out of the public eye, of course_ ), and team meetings. Bucky, for all his credit, was adjusting better than he could have hoped. Despite his hesitations in the beginning about being assigned as a trainer for new and upcoming recruits, he flourished at it. Everyone knew about him, of course. After the original Accords incident, and his trial, it was hard not to know who James Buchanan Barnes was. They knew better than to speak even an ill word about him though, no matter how they actually felt about his past/present/or future. A recruit a few months prior had made that mistake in front of Natasha, and ended up in the infirmary with a broken nose and missing teeth. Thankfully though, Steve came to find that nobody really gave a shit anymore. Time had passed, things had been rebuilt, and now they were on to the next mission in life.

As Steve oversaw Bucky’s sniping lesson, a few trainees excelling beautifully, someone came up behind him. “It’s nice to see, you know.”

Steve didn’t even flinch at the sudden voice, his brow raising at Wanda’s soft smile. “What is?”

“You back in the Captain America suit,” she motioned to the uniform he was adorning. “It’s nice.”

As nice as it was, it didn’t mean it was an easy feat at first. When Tony asked them to come back, everyone had assumed he’d jump right back into being Captain America. For Steve however, it wasn’t as simple as that. Despite the healing he’d been going through in Wakanda, he still struggled with the guilt he wore beneath the name. The suit and shield symbolize a lot, and recently it’d been a symbol the world wanted to _burn_. Which, some literally did. Steve saw the videos. He was able to ignore the responsibility for a little while, most of his time having been spent buried in Bucky’s trial, but as soon as Bucky was home he had to face the decision of whether or not he could pick the shield back up again. Stark had offered it to him a week after the trial had ended, which was more of a shock than he thought it would be.

“I’m still pissed, don’t get me wrong,” he warned, though there was no heat in his words. “But, after getting a swift kick in the ass by our fellow blueberry, I realized that this isn’t dad’s. Yeah, he might have created it, but he ended up designing it for _you_. I had no right to say those things, or to take it after you and popsicle left. So, I want you to have it back.”

Steve might have sobbed his god damn heart out for almost ten minutes after that, Bucky doing his best to sooth him through it. He, better than anyone, knew Steve’s struggles. It took another week for him to physically use the shield, and another two after that to start wearing his stealth suit around the complex for heavy training or during their minor missions. It was still hard sometimes, even after four months of officially being back under the Captain America name, but he was getting better. His friends were making sure of that.

“How is Vision?”

That had been Wanda’s personal hurdle after returning to the states. Despite T’Challa and Aneka’s offer for her to stay in Wakanda with them, she knew she needed to return with Steve and the others. It had taken Vision and her awhile to talk further than the occasional hello they started with when they got back to the base, but they were getting better. Steve occasionally saw them eating together in the commissary so he was taking it as a good sign. He knew they both held a lot of guilt over what happened between them during the Civil War battle, and he truly hoped they could come back from that. Both of them deserved that peace.

“Vision is well. We are having dinner tonight, actually.”

“Is he going to try making paprikash again?”

“This time with the proper ingredients.”

“Maximoff!” Bucky suddenly called, Wanda perking at his voice. “Wanna come move some targets for me? Spice it up a bit?”

Wanda rolled her eyes in exasperated fondness before nodding. “Because you’ve asked so kindly, Barnes.”

“Thank you!”

Almost as soon as Wanda stepped away however, Natasha was suddenly in her spot. This time Steve did flinch, his heart skipping. “Jesus, Natasha.”

Natasha grinned, unabashed. “A little jumpy are we, Steve?”

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you since yesterday afternoon.”

“Took the newest STRIKE team on their first mock-over-nighter. It was—interesting.”

“What happened? Was it successful?”

“Let’s just say that, if it had been a legit mission, half of them would be dead or taken prisoner,” she snorted. “The silent approach is certainly their weakness.”

“Looks like we’ll just have to up their training; strengthen it where they need.”

Natasha nodded in agreement, both of them watching Wanda toss the targets with an easy wave of her hand while the trainees desperately attempted to get a shot into them. They were failing. “Fury wants to see you.”

“He’s back?” Steve blinked. “I thought he was going to be in London until next week.”

“He got bored, apparently. Anyway, my meeting with him just finished, and now he’s looking for you and Barnes. It’s nothing important; just a few possible mini-missions to bring recruits on.”

“So like a field trip?”

“Pretty much.”

“Thanks, Natasha.”

“Anytime,” she pat his shoulder before turning to take her leave. “See you tonight, Rogers!”

When he turned his attention back to the range he found Bucky staring at him, brow raised. Steve simply put his hand over his left eye earning him a chuckle from the brunet. Their lesson only lasted thirty more minutes, Wanda enjoying her job as target weaver a little too much, before Bucky dismissed them. “Hey, good lookin’,” Bucky winked as he finally approached him. “How you doin’ today?”

“Stop that,” Steve rolled his eyes, though couldn’t fend off a smile. “We’ve got a meeting with Fury.”

“Figured. What does he want this time?”

“Just to talk to us about taking new STRIKE operatives out on missions, stuff like that. Shouldn’t take too long.”

“As long as we’re back in time for dinner, he can drone on for as long as he wants.”

“Be nice.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bucky took a brief glance around, seeming to sweep the room, before kissing his cheek. “I’ll try.”

It wasn’t that their relationship was a secret or anything; after the trial, pretty much the entire god damn world found out about them. There were vulgar things expressed, Captain America’s name dragged further through the mud, but—to both of their surprises—a lot of support came too. More support than either of them could have ever imagined. Either way, it wasn’t something they liked to rub in everyone’s faces, despite how much they wanted to damn near cling to each other through every second of every day.

Fury was waiting in his office when they finally made their way upstairs. He wasn’t technically the SHIELD head anymore, there were a lot of different departments with leaders that together held that title, but he was definitely still the Director he was always meant to be. He was someone Steve knew he’d always respect, someone who always had his back even in the most dangerous of situations. “Ah, Rogers! Barnes! Nice of you to join me.”

“Looking good, Fury,” Barnes leaned against the doorway. “London treat you right?”

“As good as any meeting with high-powered people who have sticks up their asses could be,” Fury snorted, Bucky’s grin widening. “I’m sure Natasha already told you, but if we’re going to be strengthening our teams, we need to get them out into the real world.”

“She told me how the last STRIKE team’s mission went,” Steve winced in sympathy. “Exposure would definitely help us focus on their weakest links.”

“Like Dum Dum and spiders.” 

Steve couldn’t help his snort, barely stifling it into his fist. “Come on, Buck. Besides, it was a cave of tarantulas. Couldn’t really blame him.”

“Spiders aside,” Fury got them back on track before they could get too far. “I’m sending Natasha and the STRIKE team she’s been working with to an old HYDRA bunker in South America. Should be abandoned, so I’m not worried about too much backlash, if any.”

“And us?”

“STRIKE team Echo is assigned to rooting out a group who we believe is starting to build another HYDRA headquarters, of sorts, somewhere north near the Canadian border. They move out tomorrow at 0500 so hopefully they can get in and out before the day ends. We need information collected, the building dismantled, and anyone who tries to stop them eliminated or taken in,” he explained. “Barnes and you will simply be shadows, similar to Natasha. Just keep an eye out, mark mistakes, and make sure nobody gets killed.”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“If something comes up, you two will be the first I go to. For now though, you are dismissed.”

Steve nodded his head before following Bucky back out into the hallway. As soon as the door shut behind them, he couldn’t help but sigh. “I feel like we’re baby-sitting.”

“If you include guns, blood, and explosions, then yeah. Totally like baby-sitting.”

“Shut-up, smartass,” Steve elbowed him in the ribs. Since there was no use wallowing over a shadowing mission, and being slightly grateful it wasn’t anything more, he changed the subject. “Hungry?”

“Wouldn’t be if someone had simply gotten up this morning instead of whining about it.”

“At least it wasn’t a boring morning.”

“Nope, you got me there, Stevie.”

“Come on. Everyone is meeting in the commissary. I think Sam mentioned a movie night in his room, too.”

“As long as it’s not that depressing one with the two dogs and the cat trying to get home to their family,” Bucky frowned. “Happy ending, but still. Pulled at my heartstrings.”

Steve grinned, taking the chance to lightly run his hand through his hair, earning him almost a purr in response. He’d gotten it trimmed last week, but he still kept it long. Despite how much he loved how short he used to have it, Steve felt it suited the present Bucky better. “Alright, I’ll be sure we veto that one.”

Sam, Natasha, and surprisingly Peter Parker, were sitting around the same table when they made it back downstairs. “Queens!”

“Brooklyns!” Parker cheered, cheeks full of what looked like mac&cheese, which he quickly chewed before continuing. “How are you guys?”

“Good, pipsqueak,” Bucky grunted. There was still a bit of animosity burning beneath Bucky’s skin, mostly because he and Sam got their asses handed to them by a spider-enhanced teenager, but Steve tried not to poke that wound too much. Despite how funny it was. “What brings you out here?”

“Training. Mr. Stark talked Natasha into helping me with my hand-to-hand skills!”

“Yeah?” Steve smiled, brow raising as he glanced to Natasha. “And how’s that going?”

“He’s got the bones, now he just needs to shape them,” Natasha shrugged, biting into an apple. “Doesn’t help he bruises like a peach.”

“Do not!”

“Why don’t you take the shirt off and show us then,” Sam taunted with a smirk.

When Parker’s cheeks flushed, Steve eventually took pity on him. “Alright, that’s enough. Come on, Buck.”

The four of them ate over comfortable conversation, most of it involving Parker’s school and the upgrades Stark had been giving him to try out. Almost all of it went over Steve’s head but, as much as the man hated to admit it, he knew it fascinated the shit out of Bucky. Even after all this time, he was still a science nerd at heart. One of the many reasons Steve loved him. After they finished eating, Natasha, Sam, Bucky, and he piled into Sam’s room to watch a movie. They argued briefly over what to watch, Natasha eventually winning with one of her favorite Bruce Lee movies. After Sam made three bowls of popcorn—“ _I learned my lesson during the first movie-thon I had with Steve and Natasha_.”—they settled down, Steve’s back curled up against Bucky’s chest, Natasha sitting on their feet at the other end of the couch, while Sam wedged himself into his papasan.

Not even halfway through, Steve started dozing. If anyone asked, he was just going to blame Bucky who was not only running a hand through his hair, but brushing a thumb along the exposed skin of his hip. It didn’t help that he, a lot like Steve, radiated heat either. Just as he began to succumb, however, he felt a sharper pinch against his calf. He jolted, Bucky’s arms instinctively tightening around him, only for them both to meet Natasha’s sharp gaze. Before he could question her, or scold her he couldn’t decide yet, she jutted her chin out towards Sam. When they followed her glance, they found Sam grinning like an idiot at the screen. Not the TV screen, but the screen of his phone, his fingers flying. Who was he texting this time of night? Sam had a few friends outside of the Avengers, along with his family, but no one he actively put effort into texting. He was usually too busy dealing with SHIELD stuff to even remember his phone, relying on communication with Steve and their team through the coms. It could have been Aneka? But they’d come to a mutual agreement before they left back for the states last year that they were better off as friends.

Bucky was the one who moved, Steve doing nothing to stop him as he slid as quietly as possible out from beneath him and over the back of the couch. Yes, he would usually prevent people from trying to give Sam a heart-attack, but he was just as curious this time around. He didn’t actively follow Bucky’s movements, though kept him in his peripheral. Bucky slowly crept up behind the papasan, eyes hovering just over Sam’s shoulder and down at his phone. His head tilted briefly before eventually he stood up and dropped his face as close to Sam’s ear as he could. “Who’s King Kitty?”

Sam shrieked, popcorn flying as he blindly swung, Bucky barely catching him when he dipped and almost tumbled over. “Jesus Christ, Barnes! Are you trying to kill me?”

“Geeze, someone’s twitchy,” Bucky chuckled as he righted him, quickly stepping away when Sam swiped. “So, you gonna answer the question?”

“Nope.”

“Well, common sense points to our dear king,” Natasha answered for him. “Didn’t know you and T’Challa were close, Wilson.”

Even in the dark Steve could see his cheeks flush. “We’re—um—we’re not.”

“Uh huh. Suuuuure.”

“Come on you guys,” Steve eventually cut in. “Leave him alone. Besides, we should get to our room. I’m passing out over here.”

“Unfortunately, I have to agree with Rogers,” Natasha stretched. “I have a bunch of ducklings to watch out for tomorrow.”

“So do we,” Steve mumbled before standing, groggily reaching for Bucky’s hand and lacing their fingers. “You good, Sam?”

“Yeah. I’m taking Natasha’s place training Parker for the rest of the weekend, so that’ll be interesting.”

“Don’t be too hard on him, please.”

Sam waved him off as he began to scoop the rest of his popcorn back into the bowl, Natasha helping. “We’ll see how it goes. Let me know when you guys get back; maybe we can catch dinner?”

“We will. Night, Sam.”

Their room wasn’t too far down the hallway, thank Steve’s lucky stars. He barely had any training outside of a lesson on hand-to-hand today, but he was exhausted. Bucky must have noticed too. “Come on, babydoll. Let’s get you undressed and in bed.”

They bypassed a shower, Bucky helping them both strip before they slid into bed, Steve instantly leeching himself to his side. “I shouldn’t—“he yawned loudly, “—shouldn’t be this tired.”

“It’s still probably jet lag from our information extraction in Egypt.”

“Maybe.”

“Doesn’t matter. We still have to get up with the damn chickens, anyway,” he grunted, fingers picking up their motions through his hair. “Get some sleep, Stevie.”

Like he was going to argue with that. With a gentle kiss to Bucky’s chest, he let himself relax in his hold. “Love you, Buck.”

“Love you too.”

_”Steve?”_

_Steve felt his eyes open, but he wasn’t in his and Bucky’s bedroom. Instead he was somewhere dark, a cold chill trickling up his spine._

_“Steve?” the voice called again. “Come on, Cap. You gonna sleep all day?”_

_Despite the fact he couldn’t see a foot in front of his face, he started moving, desperately trying to follow the familiar voice. Where the hell was he? And where was Bucky? After only a few minutes, it felt like he’d been running for miles, his lungs beginning to burn and legs aching, but he didn’t stop. Just when he started to fear he’d never reach the end, he suddenly found a large metal door waiting for him. He pushed and pulled, but it didn’t matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge. “Hello? Hello! Is anyone back there?”_

_“You’re late.” Steve froze, eyes widening at the familiar laugh coming from the other side of the door. But no, it didn’t make sense. How was that possible? When he reached for the handle again however, the voice stopped him. “Once you open that door, Cap, you can’t close it. Trust me, it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows back here.”_

_No. He needed to get the door open. He had to get her out! To his surprise, the next time he pulled, the door slid open without hardly any effort at all. The light was blinding compared to the darkness he’d just been in, but even through the brightness he could see a shadow standing a few feet in front of him. A short familiar one with long blue hair and a smile so much like Bucky’s. “Rune!”_

_As soon as the lights dimmed however, that image sharply changed, twisting and growing right before his eyes. Steve panicked, his hands reaching out in an attempt to help her, but as soon as he was able to grasp her shoulder, he found himself looking into a sharp pair of aged blue eyes. He leapt back with a jolt, his heart hammering loudly in his ears as he stared in horror at who’d taken Rune’s place. “Hello again, Captain Rogers,” he grinned. “Been a long time.”_

_“Pierce.”_

_“Steve! Run!”_

_“Steve!”_

“Steve—Steve!”

Steve sat upright with so much force he nearly slipped off of the mattress, a metal hand the only thing keeping him upright. His chest was heaving, a cold sweat sticking to him. “Steve? Can you look at me?”

When he turned his head, his vision still swimming, he found Bucky frowning at him. “Buck?”

“Yeah, Stevie,” he smiled, keeping his hand firm on Steve’s arm. “Can you tell me where you are right now?”

It was something they did for each other after a nightmare, something to help them better ground back to the present instead of being trapped further in whatever hell they’d woken up from. Steve swallowed as he tried to get his throbbing brain back online. “New York.”

“Be specific for me, babydoll.”

“Avengers base,” Steve clenched his eyes. “2017.”

“There you are. Is it ok to touch you now?”

Steve answered by sharply pulling Bucky into his chest. He knew his hands were shaking, Pierce’s eyes still boring into the forefront of his mind, but right now all he needed was to make sure Bucky was real. That he was here, with Steve, in their bed, and not in that son of a bitch’s control. They stayed like that for a few minutes before he eventually loosened his hold, only going far enough to press their foreheads together. “S-sorry.”

“You’re fine,” he hushed, chastely kissing him as he ran soothing hands up and down his sides. “Want to tell me what happened?”

If it had been anyone else, he’d have waved them off and tried to get back to sleep, but he never kept anything from Bucky. Not since their conversation about trusting each other the year before. “I thought—“he grit his teeth as he tried to get his heart to calm the fuck down. “I could hear Rune, but I couldn’t get to her. She was behind this giant metal door and when I tried to open it, she kept telling me not to. That I wouldn’t like what was on the other side. When I was finally able to pry it loose though and find her, Rune—she changed. Her body warped, and shifted, and then before I knew it—before I knew it, I was staring at Alexander Pierce.”

Bucky stiffened briefly, Steve’s frown deepening. Before he could apologize again though, Bucky pulled him back into his arms. “He’s gone, Steve. Fury did us all a favor and now he’s _gone_. He ain’t comin’ back.”

“I won’t let him take you,” Steve swore through the tightness in his throat. “I won’t. I’ll burn the fucking world down again. I can’t—“

“Hey now, none of that,” Bucky soothed as he pressed a kiss to his temple. “We’re safe, ok? Nothing is coming for me, or you. And even if they were, we have an entire complex behind us now. Our team would fight for us just as much as they would with us.”

Steve knew it was true, but Rune’s words still echoed in his head. _Once you open that door, Cap, you can’t close it._ It took him longer than it should before he let Bucky tuck them back beneath the sheets, this time Steve clinging to him even tighter. He didn’t relax for a long while, he couldn’t, not even after Bucky’s breath evened out and he fell asleep. Steve’d had some real dreams before, could feel, taste, and smell some of his nightmares even to this day. And this—Rune’s voice, Pierce’s grin—God, it all just felt so real. He knew it wasn’t, both of them were long-since dead, but he couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach that something was coming.

If something was though, Steve was going to fight it with everything he had in him. He just got his life back, a life he planned on spending every last second of with his best friends, and nothing was going to take that from him. Not this time.

“Don’t you look like a morning-beauty,” Hill teased.

If it wasn’t disrespectful, or she was Natasha, Steve would have flipped her off. “Good morning to you too, Maria.”

“I know Fury already briefed you on what you’re up against today, but I downloaded all the files we have to your tablet,” she motioned to the device in Bucky’s hand. “It’s not too far from the base, but based on latest satellite footage, there are a few more men than originally tallied. I already warned the team though, so they should be prepared. Either way, if things go south, you two are to step in and help direct them.”

“So basically we get a show unless shit hits the fan?”

“Pretty much. Team Echo doesn’t know you two are shadowing them though, so stay out of contact unless strictly necessary.”

“Roger that!” Bucky exclaimed, beaming at Steve. “Get it, Stevie? Roger that?”

“Oh my God,” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose as Hill laughed, unabashed. “Would you just get on the jet?”

“See you later, Hill!”

The flight to the site was barely an hour long, Team Echo already fifteen minutes out from them. After setting their course, Steve glanced over to where Bucky was poking at the tablet in the co-pilot seat. “Anything exciting to report?”

“Doesn’t look like these idiots have made much progress on this thing,” Bucky held it up for him to see. “I mean, they barely started putting the walls on it even though they’ve supposedly been building for months now.”

“You know just as well as I do that the top is more for show than anything. HYDRA likes to literally bury their secrets, remember?”

“Wish we could get the blueprints on this thing, see how deep it goes,” he grumbled. Steve yawned, fist doing nothing to quiet it, as he watched him type furiously across the screen. “Did you even sleep last night?”

“Little bit.”

“Steve.”

“I’m good, Buck, really,” he offered a smile before resting his cheek in his hand and closing his eyes. “Besides, it’s not like we’re going to have to really do anything. Team Echo is a little more advanced than other STRIKE teams, so I think they’ll be able to handle this without us having to intervene.”

“You have way too much faith in people.”

“One of my many perks. That you love, just so you know.”

When he squinted an eye open he found Bucky rolling his eyes, exasperated. “Ok, you little shit.”

Steve couldn’t help his laugh as Bucky set his tablet on the floor before unbuckling his seatbelt and hovering over him, hands bracing against the arms of his seat. “Can I help you?”

“I can’t believe I thought all these years would change your punk ass,” he grunted as his right hand lifted to grip his chin. “Innocent, my ass.”

“Come on now, everyone thinks I’m innocent but you. And maybe Sam. And Natasha. Possibly Barton,” Steve tallied off a few people before grinning wider. “Ok, a lot of people.”

“Uh huh, that’s what I thought.”

He finally closed the distance and kissed him, Steve’s fingers gripping into the front of his tactical suit to pull him closer. Again, because they weren’t huge on the PDA at the base, he relished in these opportunities. Yeah, they were able to spend quality time like this in their room, behind closed doors, but every time they were out in the world, Steve craved to touch him. Even in the smallest of ways. So, when these moments arose, he jumped on them instantly. Moments where they could just drown in each other and ignore the world, their key focus on making the other feel good. Feel safe. Feel loved.

Speaking of which.

With quick hands he was able to unbuckle his own seatbelt, grab Bucky by the hips, and spin them before shoving the brunet into his chair. Bucky grunted at the sudden change, the fact he didn’t fall into instant attack mode proving how far he’d come from his days as HYDRA’s brain-washed assassin. “Jesus, Stevie. What—“

Steve responded by immediately going for the button of his pants, the zipper easily sliding down. Before Bucky could open his mouth to question him again, Steve was taking his entire length down his throat. Metal fingers instantly clutched at his hair, a breathy moan leaving Bucky’s lips, the sound encouraging Steve to move. Circling his fingers around the base he began to bob his head, tongue occasionally dipping into the now oozing slit at the top before taking him fully back into his mouth. The first-time Steve was able to do this to Bucky, he came in his pants without so much as a touch. Sure, he’d imagined what it’d be like if Bucky ever let him do this, ever let him touch him like this, but it didn’t come even close to comparing to the real-life thing. God, he was perfect. The slight curve, nice girth, and a length that wasn’t too much for Steve to handle. If possible, Steve would stay here, on his knees, for hours just sucking him off, losing himself to the smell, taste, and feel of Bucky. There was probably a word for this sensation, this need, but right now wasn’t the time for that.

At the feeling of Bucky’s fingers tightening again, his voice deep and far away, he slowly began to pull back from his foggy thoughts. After a few seconds the rush in his ears calmed, his eyes opening to find Bucky staring down at him, teeth sunk into his bottom lip. “I’m close. Fuck—fuck, get up here. Up!”

Obediently he did, Bucky tugging him forward by the hips before attacking his own zipper and finally pulling Steve’s neglected cock free. As soon as he wrangled Steve into his lap, he wrapped those amazing metal fingers around the both of them and roughly started jerking them together. When warm lips nipped lightly at the exposed skin beneath his jaw, Steve reached down to help him. “Bucky,” he whined, hips beginning to buck by their own accord. “Bucky, please.”

“Come with me,” Bucky coaxed, using his free hand to pull him down into a hard kiss. “Come, Stevie.”

Steve did just that, the stars nearly exploding behind his eyes as he toppled over the edge, Bucky kissing him even harder as they spilled over their hands and down over Bucky’s vest. His chest was heaving by the time his orgasm passed, their too sensitive cocks still twitching between their fingers. After a few minutes of panting into the quiet of the jet, Steve cleared his throat. “How’s that for innocent?”

“Oh my God,” Bucky bellowed out a laugh at Steve’s snicker. “You’re awful.”

“But you love me.”

“Yeah. Yeah I do.”

Knowing they had a bit of clean up to do before the jet landed, Steve found the energy to finally stand and tuck himself back into his suit, Bucky following suit as soon as he was out of his lap. It wasn’t the first time they’d done this in the jet, or any semi-public space. Sometimes the need to touch was too much, so an empty closet or conference room would have to do. They were also pro at getting semen stains out of clothes by this point, too, which was convenient considering Bucky’s vest was covered in it, currently. After rubbing and rinsing their baking soda concoction over the spots, all they had to do was wait for it to dry. Thank-you Google for that little tip!

Their jet landed on an abandoned landing strip right next to Team Echo’s, who were already either on site, or headed to it. Not really expecting to have to intervene, Bucky strapped his pistol to his thigh and rifle to his back, Steve following suit with his shield. “Ugh, the sun isn’t even up yet.”

“At least it’s warming up,” Steve offered, watching to make sure the jet ramp closed behind them. “I hate running in the snow in the morning.”

“Because snow is a dick and should only be around for Christmas. Then it needs to leave.”

“Down killer.”

They wound through the trees for about half a mile before finally coming onto the site. It looked just as it had in the satellite footage; the framing was almost done being walled, the roofing still in the works. Even through its skeletons they could see the staircase being built towards the back, most likely leading down to its already finished lower floors. Steve and Bucky stayed in the shadow of the trees, patiently waiting for Team Echo to make their first move.

Not that they had to wait very long for the shooting to start. The guards out front went down first, the next two who came to check on the noise going down just as fast. “Who’s sniping?”

Bucky flipped through the tablet with a hum. “Karmin Brashnik. I think I helped train her.”

“Probably. You’re usually the one they go to when they get an up-and-coming sniper.”

“Ex-assassin for the win.”

The gunfire intensified as the team disappeared inside, Bucky pressing a few more things on the tablet. “What are you doing?”

“Hill said the cameras a few of them are wearing will give us a complete inside look,” he explained. Sure enough, when he held it back up, Steve could see the team heading through the corridors. “Cool huh?”

“Do you know how convenient this would have been during the war?”

“We wouldn’t have lost Dernier that time he got loaded in France. Went out to piss and he didn’t come back for an hour,” he rolled his eyes. “I think—didn’t Gabe find him cuddling with a goat?”

“Couldn’t stop sneezing for a week after.” Steve shook his head. “There aren’t that many agents in this place, are there? Hill said there’d be more.”

“They weren’t set to move in until construction was complete. Only a handful of guards were assigned to keep an eye on the place.” His fingers continued to change the camera angles, Team Echo slowly making their way down to the third floor next. “Are they going to blow it?”

“After they clear it out, they’ll plant explosives on all the support walls, then evacuate before detonating.”

“Yes,” Bucky pumped a fist. “I love explosions.”

“That’s because you’re a toddler in a century-old-man’s body.”

“Damn right.”

Before Steve could continue snarking him, however, his pocket began to vibrate. Who was calling him while in the field? When he pulled it from his suit he found Natasha’s name printed across the screen. He quickly swiped the green phone. “Natasha? Buck and I are shadowing, can I—“

“ _You need to get down here, now._ ”

“To Brazil? Why? Did—“

“ _Steve, please don’t question me right now. I need both you and Barnes to get down here and help me deal with this_ ,” Natasha cut him off again. She never called him his first name, not unless it was something serious. “ _You two are the only ones I trust with this._ ”

Steve shared a look with Bucky before nodding. “I’ll let Fury know you need our assistance. Echo is almost finished anyway.”

“ _Thank you._ ”

“What the hell was that about?” Bucky questioned as soon as he hung up. “Is she ok?”

“I don’t—she needs our help, but she wouldn’t tell me what was happening. All she told me was to get down there immediately.”

“Better call ahead and warn Fury and Hill,” Bucky shut his tablet down. “If she’s that desperate to call in the middle of a mission, you know it’s an emergency.”

As he followed Bucky back through the trees, his frown only deepened. Sure, Bucky and Steve had been called on a lot to assist their team on missions, but it was rare when it was an actual emergency. She didn’t sound hurt, but that was the only calming thing about this situation. Only way to find out though was to get down to Brazil as fast as possible.

_Once you open that door,_

_you can’t close it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii!  
> So, I never intended to make this into a series, but apparently that is now happening.  
> Hope you guys end up loving this one as much as you loved the first!


	2. Chapter 2

It was bugging the shit out of Steve, his mind continuing to race as he paced the jet. They’d briefly stopped to fuel up before immediately heading down to Brazil. It was a long flight, even with the speed of a SHIELD craft, so he had plenty of time to go over possible scenarios. And there were _a lot_ of possible scenarios.

“Steve, babydoll, light of my life, please sit the fuck down,” Bucky begged. “You’re starting to make me anxious.”

Steve sighed out an apology and obediently returned to his chair. “I just don’t understand. What could have happened out there that she couldn’t tell us over the phone?”

“Dunno, but we won’t be able to find out until we get there, so there’s no use worrying your pretty little head anymore over it.”

“The only positive is that she didn’t sound hurt, and if anyone else had been, she’d have called emergency.”

“See? It’s already going better than you thought.” When Steve simply nodded, his brain still going a mile a minute, Bucky suddenly stood up and sat down at his feet. “Put my hair up.”

Steve blinked down at him in confusion, brows furrowed. “Excuse me?”

“Put my hair up. I can’t do it like you, Wanda, and Natasha can.”

After a few more seconds of staring, Steve slid his gloves off and set them aside before beginning to comb his fingers through thick brown hair. It wasn’t the first time he’d asked Steve to do this, despite the fact he was perfectly capable of putting his own hair up. Bucky loved having his hair played with and besides, it gave Steve a distraction. Which he had a feeling was the main reasoning for his asking right now. God, he loved this man. He didn’t put any flair in this time, he didn’t have a brush or anything to help him make it neat, so instead he settled for a half up half down look. Since waking up, Bucky always wore a collection of hair ties on his wrist, all varying in color. He usually just ended up shooting them at people though, which of course turns into an all-out war, so Steve is always having to buy more for him. Once the bun looked decent enough, his fingers combing out the layer against his neck, he couldn’t help but smile at the few bangs hanging over his forehead. “You trimmed your bangs when you got your haircut.”

Bucky shrugged, leaning further into the V of Steve’s knees. “Figured why not. If I’m keeping it long, it’s gotta have some kind of shape.”

“Oh, pro-hairstylist now are we?”

“Not even close. Natasha just likes to shove fashion magazines in my face.”

“Explains why I found you two wearing clays masks when I got home from my run with Sam last week.”

“Hey, my face was fucking gorgeous after that.”

“Your face is always gorgeous,” Steve corrected, peppering the side of his head with kisses for emphasis. “Even with green goo on it.”

“Why thank you, kind sir,” Bucky grinned as he tilted his head back for a proper kiss. “Feel better?”

“Yeah, thanks Buck. You always know what to do.”

“Eh, scrambled brain or not, I still know you better than anyone else. Including myself sometimes.”

“It’s ok, that’s what I’m here for. You keep me from drowning, and I keep you from forgetting.”

“You mushy mook,” he grinned, pulling him down for another kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The monitor on the dashboard beeped, signaling their decent down to the coordinates Natasha had sent them. It landed them an open space surrounded by a thick jungle of trees, the STRIKE team’s jet still sitting a few hundred feet away. Well, at least they knew they weren’t dealing with a hijacking situation. Once they began their hike through the jungle, Steve pulled his phone out, following the GPS through the thick amount of brush and trees. After a few hundred feet, Bucky chuckled behind him. “I feel like I should be wielding a hatchet right now.”

“I feel like Indiana Jones.”

“We need to finish watching all of those, by the way. That will be our goal with Wilson when we get home.”

It was obvious they’d arrived when they stepped through a tangle of vines and found a concrete wall, with a set of metal doors welded in the middle, towering over them. If not that, then the fact Natasha was approaching them was definitely a dead giveaway. “Natasha! You’re alright.”

“What’s going on?” Bucky questioned, arms crossing over his chest. “Sounded pretty urgent.”

“Because it is,” Natasha rubbed her temple, obviously in attempt to rid a growing headache. “Fury assigned us to this bunker because it’s been abandoned for a few years, so we didn’t think there’d be anything inside. We weren’t expecting anyone on site or anything; this was more of an intro to a HYDRA hideout than a fight. After I sent them exploring though, someone found a secret entrance to a room off of the bottom floor. One that wasn’t in the blueprints. It took a bit of effort and coding to get through the rusty security, but eventually we got it open and—and—“

When her face began to pale, Steve reached forward and gripped her shoulder. “It’s ok, just take it slow.”

“I swear if anyone came to me with this information I’d call bullshit, but—fuck, you just need to brace yourself, alright? It’s going to throw you for a loop and I’m worried about the backlash it might have.”

Steve couldn’t help but frown when her attention zeroed on Bucky. Neither of them needed her to clarify what she’d been referring to, though. “You mean my triggers.”

Suddenly Steve wasn’t so sure he wanted to go into that bunker, that sudden urge to grab Bucky and get the fuck out of dodge bubbling up. “Natasha, what’s down there?”

She took a deep breath, seeming to brace herself, before motioning for them to follow her. “Come on. Better to see it in person than listen to me babble. Besides, Barnes is the only one who would know how to— _handle_ the situation.”

Natasha led them through the metal doors and into the large main room of the bunker. It looked like any other HYDRA hideout he’d ever been through, so so far there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary. A few STRIKE team members were scattered around, probably still searching through the remnants of whatever had been left behind. None of them made eye contact though, which was another red flag. The lower they went, the deeper Steve’s stomach sank, his fight or flight mode beginning to heighten. When they finally reached the secret entrance, Natasha slowed to a stop, obviously hesitating. “It’s alright, Natalia,” Bucky coaxed softly. “We can handle it, whatever it is.”

That seemed to get her going again, her head nodding briefly before she finally stepped through the doorway. The hallway was dark, leading down a smaller flight of stairs before widening out into a dimly lit room. It wasn’t very big, maybe the size of their living room back at base, but it was plenty of room for the object standing tall against the back wall. Steve knew instantly what it was; hell, he’d watched Bucky sleeping in one for three fucking months, so of course he knew a cryo tube when he saw one. This one, however, _wasn’t empty_.

At first he thought it was his imagination, weeks of hallucinations seeming to come back at him full force. The longer he stared however, eyes tracing over that familiar sleeping face and tangle of blue hair, he came to realize that this really was a reality.

“Rune?” he stared, his heart hammering violently against his rib cage. “I don’t—I don’t understand. How is this possible?”

“I don’t know,” Natasha shook her head. “Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are.”

It was definitely Rune alright, he would recognize her unique features anywhere. She was in a sports bra and spandex, her blue hair braided over her left shoulder, though it looked a little shorter than he remembered. A pair of rod cuffs were latched to her wrists, keeping them pinned behind her back, and a muzzle had been buckled around the lower half of her face. Steve had a sinking feeling it was the same muzzle Pierce had put her in before throwing her into the pit. God, what did they do to her? When Steve turned to Bucky however, his stomach dropped even further. His entire body was stiff, his eyes wide where they were glued to the chamber. “Buck?”

“She died,” Bucky said, voice barely a whisper. “You watched her die, so how—? How is this possible? How is she _here_?”

“One of the STRIKE members suggested she could be a LMD, which is something I considered. After we were able to hack into the computer attached to her chamber’s internal system though, the few files we could reach proved differently,” Natasha explained, motioning to the screen embedded into the wall just to the right of the tube. “Her vitals are normal, for someone who’s gone under, anyway. The problem is, records are showing she’s been in there for—well, for longer than should be possible.”

“What does that mean?”

“Her initial freezing date was almost three and a half years ago.”

“Right before Project Insight,” Steve pieced together. “Probably around the time she was taken to Greenland.”

“And long before the Kodiak bunker explosion.”

“So, what? She has a twin or something?”

“I honestly don’t know. A lot of the files attached to her name are encrypted and will take a while to decode, so I can’t do much more until we get back to base. Whoever put her in here though obviously didn’t intend for anyone to find her, let alone find out why she was put here in the first place.”

“We have to wake her up. We can’t—we can’t just leave her in there.”

“We wouldn’t be able to move her anyway, at least not safely. This one isn’t quite as mobile as the one Barnes was in,” Natasha explained before turning to face him. “James, do you know what to do? This is out of my line of expertise.”

“R-Right,” Bucky swallowed, physically shaking his head as he seemed to drop back to reality again. Steve couldn’t help his internal sigh of relief. “Sorry. What do you need me to do?”

“Do you know how to get her out of that thing?”

“I think I can remember the system release codes, but I’ve never actually seen her come out of cryo before, so I’m not sure what will happen. As my primary, she was required to be there when they unfroze and froze me, just in case I lashed out.”

“I’m assuming that’s why she’s muzzled and cuffed,” Natasha frowned. “If I remember her temper, and growing hate for HYDRA, she’s probably a spitfire when she first wakes up.”

“She wouldn’t hurt Bucky though, so he should be the first she sees,” Steve suggested. “Maybe that will help her settle quicker to the present, especially if she has been in there for three years.”

Natasha shrugged. “It’s a good start. Come on, Barnes. Let’s get to work.”

It took some time, but thanks to what Natasha had learned from the scientists in Wakanda, and what Bucky remembered from his own personal experience, they were making headway. Steve had been in charge of gathering the STRIKE team, getting them into position around the room. As great of a lesson as this was for them, greater than any of them were expecting when they landed, he knew they could use the extra set of hands. He might have only witnessed her abilities with a gun, but he doubted her hand-to-hand skills were lacking. Not after spending over twenty years with HYDRA and SHIELD. As soon as he was sure they were in place, Steve turned his attention back to where Rune was still sleeping. None of this still made any sense to him; how was it possible for her to have been frozen long before they even met? Besides, Rune _died_. He pretty much _watched_ it happen. He hallucinated her in the weeks afterwards for Christ Sake! But here she was, flesh and blood, just as real and alive as he was. Despite how freaky all of this was, he just wanted her awake and somewhere safe. Not trapped here in this dark, cold, moldy basement.

About thirty minutes later the chamber suddenly made a loud hissing noise, the glass beginning to lift from the bottom up, steam billowing out similar to how Bucky’s had back in Wakanda. “HYDRA’s defrosting process isn’t as gentle as T’Challa’s was, so she’s going to be even more disoriented than I was when she wakes up. Just be on alert.”

“How long until her body comes back to full function?”

“It varies,” Bucky shrugged. “Since she’s half my size, I’d assume it’ll take half as long, so I’d say maybe twenty minutes?”

As they finally stepped back from the computer, Steve lightly cupped his elbow. “You doing ok?”

Bucky hesitated answering for a few seconds, but he eventually nodded before reaching down and taking his hand, kissing his knuckles lightly. “I’ll feel better once she’s awake and breathing.”

Minutes felt like hours at this point, Bucky’s grip iron-tight around Steve’s, but he didn’t mind. Steve was able to spend time with Rune right before she died. Sure, it was only three days, but it was more closure than what Bucky had. As great as her good-bye video was, it’s never quite enough in the end. Especially not after the fact she not only brought the Avengers back together, but won Bucky his freedom. Again.

Suddenly Rune twitched, her brows furrowing together. Steve felt his breath catch, Bucky’s free hand sharply grasping his elbow as they all stared on. The movements in her body were subtle, a shift of her shoulders, a deep breath in her chest, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. When her eyes began to flutter, struggling to open, Steve nudged Bucky, nodding his head to coax him forward. Slowly Bucky released him, his steps quiet and almost hesitant as he finally approached the open chamber. He didn’t speak as first, merely watching, waiting. Eventually he reached his right hand forward, those rough calloused fingers lightly pressing to her bare thigh as he continued to search her face. “Rune?” he finally called, voice rough and thick with a variety of emotions. “Rune, просыпайся.”

Steve felt his breath catch when her eyes finally opened, a soft groan rumbling in her chest as she shifted against the rods holding her wrists together. Hazy blue-green irises roamed over the room before finally dropping to where Bucky was standing. Even through the mask strapped to her face Steve could see the slight raise in her cheeks, signaling her attempt to smile. Almost as soon as it came though, there was a shift in her eyes, and then chaos erupted. Rune lunged, ramming her shoulder into Bucky’s chest and pushing, running him straight into the backwall where she sharply shoved him to the floor by knocking the back of his knees in. Natasha instinctively moved to help, only to be met with a double kick to the shoulder and cheek. As soon as she hit the ground the STRIKE team moved in, Steve scrambling to stop them despite their attempt to help their teacher. “No, stop! Don’t hurt her!”

Not that he really had to worry about that. With a dip of her legs she was able to simultaneously jump the rod cuffs from back to front and strike the team’s leader in the face with the metal. She pushed off of his stumbling form, using the momentum to wrap her legs around another member’s neck, swinging with enough force to slam him into two more of his team. “Fall back!” Natasha ordered as she managed to get back to her feet. “Fall back, now!”

Despite their better judgement, the rest of the team obeyed, slowly stepping back to a more comfortable radius. Rune’s eyes swept across all of them, anger, suspicion, and the need to protect thick in her features as she too took a few steps back. As soon as she reached where Bucky was shaking his rattled head, she crouched down in front of him and lifted his face with a still-cuffed hand. Despite the fact she couldn’t speak, he still seemed to be able to read whatever she was trying to say. “I’m fine, but I need you to stop kicking everyone’s ass for a second, ok?” he rambled, fingers gripping her biceps in an attempt to keep her from lunging at anyone who tried to step near them again. When she raised an annoyed brow at him, he rolled his eyes with a huff. “Don’t give me that look, I just need you to behave while I get this stupid muzzle off of you.”

After squinting at him suspiciously, she gave a short nod before turning around to give him access to the complicated buckle system at the back. Obviously, even if her hands hadn’t been cuffed, she wouldn’t have been able to get it off alone. While he worked his way through the multiple straps, Rune’s eyes continued to shift over all of them, her wrists stretching in the cuffs almost in warning. Steve couldn’t help his frown as he watched on; did she not recognize any of them? Good lord, it was like finding Bucky all over again, except this time in the form of an angry mama bear dead-set on protecting her asset. When the muzzle finally slipped free she sharply spat it out, Steve wincing as it hit the concrete floor; it looked like it had been created with a mouth guard, making it even more impossible to speak despite the leather already strapped around her lips. God, he hated HYDRA. As soon as she was free, she sharply turned her glare back on Bucky. “What—“she swallowed, her voice raspy from non-use. “—what the hell is going on? Who are these people? They’re definitely _not_ HYDRA. And what are you wearing? Did—holy shit you got a haircut!”

“Yeah, I did,” Bucky chuckled as she rubbed a strand of his bangs between her fingers. “Look, I know things are insane right now, but I promise nobody here is a danger to us. Even despite the beating they just got.”

“Hey!” one of the STRIKE members exclaimed. When Rune shot him a sharp glare however, he instantly clammed up. “Sorry. Um—please, continue.”

Bucky’s metal fingers grasped her chin, pulling her attention back to him. “I need to ask you a few questions, alright?”

“Alright.”

It was amazing to see such blind loyalty, especially considering the current situation. Even after all this time apart they still trusted each other with anything and everything. Steve knew the feeling. “What is the last thing you remember?”

“What the hell do you mean what is the last thing I remember? Ice. Ice is always the last thing I remember.”

Steve’s stomach twisted at that, Bucky’s face falling slightly before his attention dropped to focus on getting the cuffs from her wrists. “Before that. What were you doing before they put you into cryo again?”

This time she actually took a moment to think, her eyes zoning on a spot just to the left of Bucky’s head as he continued to wrangle the metal free. Just as her right hand popped loose, she suddenly seemed to piece something together. “There—there was a mission before Project Insight was supposed to launch. Some kind of last-minute information extraction in-in Romania,” her brows furrowed even deeper, her free hand rubbing at her probably scratchy throat. “But it was a trick. Rumlow and Pierce were waiting on the jet and they—they took me somewhere. They put that stupid muzzle on me and sent me to—fuck!”

“Hey, take it easy, alright?” Bucky hushed, finally snapping the rod free and tossing it aside before turning his attention fully back to her. “You’re on the right track. What happened next?”

Rune roughly rubbed her temples with the heel of her hands. “Iceland? Greenland? They put me—shit, they put me in the pit! I—I left you. I left you before Project Insight, and they—what did they do? Are you alright?” Rune’s hands instantly began to roam over him, her eyes zeroing in on his arm. “That’s—new. What happened to the old one? Did they use anesthesia this time at least? Oh God—what— _Bucky_ —“

“Hey, hey, stop that,” Bucky hushed when the tears welled in her eyes, Steve’s heart sinking at the sight. He couldn’t imagine how difficult this was for her. For both of them. “I’m fine, ok? A lot has happened since you went under, but right now—in this moment—you and I are both fine.”

“Rune,” Natasha suddenly spoke, Rune’s head whipping to face her. Steve couldn’t help but notice the way her body subtly shifted, blocking Bucky further from her view. “Do you recognize me?”

“Should I?”

“Look closer, Rune. It’s been awhile, but we both know her,” Bucky coaxed.

Her head tilted, her brain probably still having trouble functioning properly considering she not only just woke up from a three-years sleep on ice, but woke up to a crowd of people demanding answers to a million questions. She took another brief look at Bucky before turning back, her hand bracing against his chest to keep herself from buckling forward. “Spiderling?” she whispered. “Natalia?”

“It’s Natasha now, but yeah.”

“You grew up into a pretty thing, didn’t you?” Rune smiled, Natasha rolling her eyes. This was already going better than it did the last time they were reunited. Much less fighting. Well, kind of. “You two haven’t been getting into trouble again, have you?”

“He starts it.”

“Do not!”

“Ok, children,” Steve cut in, unable to keep the Captain America persona inside. “Save the banter for later.”

Steve felt his heart leap when those blue-green eyes suddenly shifted to him, his spine going rim-rod straight. Why he felt so nervous in front of the girl he’d known for three days and hallucinated for almost a month, he wasn’t sure. She squinted at him briefly until suddenly they widened owlishly. “Steve Rogers? Holy—you found him? Bucky, you really found him?”

“Yeah,” Bucky chuckled at her sudden excitement. “We kind of found each other, actually.”

Slowly Rune stood up, her legs a little wobbly compared to the ass-kicking she’d given mere minutes before. When she stopped about a foot in front of him, he swallowed his nerves before waving. “Um, hello.”

“Wow,” she blinked. “You really are built like a tank, aren’t ya? I can see why Bucky likes you so much. You could easily hold him up against a—”

“Rune!” Bucky groaned, metal hand running down his face. “Would you—Jesus, would you stop oogling?”

Steve couldn’t help his laugh as Rune’s grin widened. “My name is Rune Crow. It’s nice to meet you, Cap.”

Ignoring the nostalgia washing over him, Steve held his hand out, Rune instantly taking it. “It’s-it’s nice to meet you, Rune. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Good things I hope,” she shot a glare back at Bucky. 

The sudden sharp turn of her head however had her eyes rolling, Steve sharply catching her around the waist when her knees buckled. “Careful!”

“I’m-I’m ok,” she winced, hands gripping Steve’s suit. “Just a side-effect of cryo.”

“You’ve got to be exhausted,” Steve frowned. “We need to get you back to base.”

“We have to do tests and gather samples from her anyway,” Natasha agreed. “The sooner the better, honestly.”

“Samples? Why?” she questioned as she turned back to Natasha. “You guys know who I am; I ain’t exactly hiding it.”

“It’s-it’s a little more complicated than that, котёнок,” Bucky frowned, ignoring Rune’s failed attempt at a glare. “Like I said before, a lot has happened since you went under.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, but you don’t have much of a choice,” Bucky grunted as he returned to his feet. “We sure as hell ain’t leaving you here.”

Steve helped ease her up onto Bucky’s back, his hands hovering until Bucky gave him a nod. “Our jet isn’t too far away, so just hang on.”

“Thanks, Cap,” Rune yawned, mushing her cheek against Bucky’s shoulder. “I’m just gonna nap until we get there.”

“You act like you didn’t just sleep for three years.”

“Oh fuck off.”

As they disappeared back through the secret entrance, Steve turned to Natasha, her eyes glued to the cryo chamber. “She didn’t remember me.”

“It sounds like she doesn’t remember anything beyond when she was first thrown into the pit.”

“Our Rune died, Natasha. There’s no way she could have gotten out of that explosion alive.”

“I know. Trust me, I ran the calculations myself while I was waiting for you. Each and every time the results were the same,” she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “Hopefully when we get back to base, our labs can give us some answers.”

Rune slept through most of the trip back to New York, bundled in every blanket they had on the jet. By the time they landed again, she’d gained some of her strength back, though her body was still going to be weak throughout the rest of the day. Most of the building was dark as they approached the main doors, which meant a lot of workers had gone home or retired to their rooms. A fact that was working to their advantage, at the moment. After Bucky’s trial, Rune’s name became a highlight in the public eye. Her story had been dug up and spread; how Bucky had killed her parents, her affiliation with SHIELD before being sold by Pierce to HYDRA, and how she became the primary handler of the Winter Soldier for twenty-one years. Similar to how Bucky’s story was received, a lot of people were enraged that she’d stayed under HYDRA’s command for so long. Unlike her asset, she wasn’t subjugated to the brainwashing he was, which mean she was lucid for every second she was there, and so was seen as willingly working beneath Pierce.

Just another part of the trial that enraged Steve.

With an arm around her waist, both Steve and Bucky helped her inside, winding her through the hallways toward the medical wing. “This place is nice,” Rune complimented, stumbling briefly over her bare feet. “Much better than the shit we’d been living with.”

“Cheers to that.”

When they pushed into medical’s main lobby, they were surprised to find Dr. Cho waiting for them, a few nurses standing just behind her. “Dr. Cho?” Steve’s brows rose. “What are you doing awake?”

“Romanoff called ahead explaining briefly the situation. I agree this is a sensitive case, so I am personally going to help you gather what you need.”

A wave of relief washed through him as he nodded, offering a smile. “Thank you.”

After getting the proper x-rays, physical exams, and brain scans done, Rune was able to shower down before they set her up in her own room. Almost as soon as they finished hooking her up to an IV drip however, the cryo chamber enervating her body after being frozen for so long, she fell asleep again. Bucky and Steve were both seated next to her bed though, each having dressed down into something more comfortable while she was in the shower. “Can you believe it?” Bucky whispered, his fingers lightly brushing the hair from her face. “This is—fuck, this is impossible, Steve.”

“I feel like I’m hallucinating her again,” Steve blinked. When Bucky held his free hand out, he clutched it between both of his own. “That I’m going to wake up at any second and she’ll be gone again.”

“She’s not going anywhere. We’re going to make sure of that. right?”

“Right. This time she’s here to stay.”

Steve wasn’t sure how much time had passed before footsteps echoed from the hallway, Natasha appearing in the doorway a few seconds later. “Hey,” she greeted. She looked beyond exhausted as she sat herself in the chair on the other side of the bed. “How is she?”

“Exhausted, but she’ll live,” Bucky explained as he pulled his hand from her hair and sat back in his seat. “Still the same sassy-ass she’s always been, though.”

“Wouldn’t have expected anything less.”

“Were you able to pull anything else from the computers?” Steve questioned as Bucky properly intertwined their hands. “Or will you have to wait for someone to crack the files?”

She pushed against her forehead with a soft grumble. “It’s going to take them a few days, possibly weeks, to get everything deciphered. Whatever they buried, they wanted it locked up heavier than Barnes’ files were.”

“Which is never a good sign when HYDRA is involved.”

“Very observant, Rogers.”

Suddenly the bed shifted, Rune’s eyes fluttering open as her face lifted to the ceiling. “Наталья?”

“я здесь,” Natasha smiled as she leaned forward to catch her attention. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I could sleep for another three years.”

“Let’s not,” Bucky grunted, earning him a grin. “Pretty sure we’ve slept enough for our lifetimes.”

“So cranky in your old age.” Natasha used the button on the side of the bed to help sit her up, Rune pushing herself the rest of the way up the pillows. “Has Dr. Cho come back with results yet?”

“No, but hopefully soon.”

“Good, because I’d like to know what the fuck is going on, and why you guys are acting so weird.”

“What do you mean?”

“You keep looking at me like I’m some kind of miracle or something. Like I shouldn’t be here right now,” she explained. Welp, Bucky apparently hadn’t been kidding when he said she was the best profiler HYDRA had. “Obviously something happened to me.”

“It’s…complicated.”

“You’re going to have to tell me at some point, you know.”

“I know, we just—“

Before Bucky would say anything more, Dr. Cho stepped into the room, the tablet most likely holding Rune’s file tucked against her chest. Steve, Bucky, and Natasha immediately stood in greeting. “Nice to see you awake, Miss Crow.”

“Can’t say it will be for long. Could use a few more hours before I’m back to my usual self.”

“What did you find, Dr. Cho?” Steve pressed, eyes glued to the file. “Something good, I hope.”

It looked like Dr. Cho was preparing herself for something, and Steve knew it was nowhere near good news. _Of course_. “Mentally, this is Rune Lilliana Crow. Based on her memories, and the technique and skills obviously still engrained from her time with SHIELD and HYDRA, her mind is still that of her original self.”

Steve instantly honed in on that. “Original self?”

“When it came to her physical x-rays, I found multiple discrepancies between her last and most recent scans,” Dr. Cho said as she typed something against the tablet, two 3D x-rays appearing just above the foot of the bed. “There is so sign of any old broken bones, which there should be multiple of, the screws in her left hip are gone, the plate in her jaw is missing, and she is an inch shorter. Ultimately I can’t help but come to the conclusion that this is not the same body Rune had before she died.”

“I DIED!?” Rune squawked, jaw dropping. Steve flinched when she turned her look of pure shock from Dr. Cho, to him and Bucky. “What the fuck happened to me?”

“It’s—it’s a long story,” Bucky frowned, his free hand nervously scratching the back of his head. “We’ll explain soon, I promise.”

Thankfully, Dr. Cho continued through the thickening tension. “I dug a little deeper and found inconsistencies in her bloodwork, as well. Though her genes are near identical, her mitochondrial DNA is not, which means she was created from a host egg,” she explained further as she flipped through Rune’s chart. A look of amusement suddenly crossed her face though as she offered a smile to them. “Despite all of this mounting evidence, my biggest sign came from one very obvious trait.”

“And what’s that?”

“This Rune has no belly-button.”

“What?” Rune scrambled to lift her gown. Sure enough, where a belly button would normally be, there was nothing but smooth, pale skin. How hadn’t they noticed that earlier? “What. _The fuck_. Is going on?”

“Wait, are you—are you trying to tell me this Rune is a clone or something?” Bucky’s jaw dropped. “Like created in a petri dish and grown in a lab kind of clone?”

“Judging by the brief summary Romanoff gave me earlier, yes. Considering there is a three-and-a-half-year gap in transferred memories, I’m assuming she has been growing and developing inside the tube all this time.”

“How the hell can anything grow in below freezing temperatures? Let alone a person!”

“HYDRA apparently found a way to make it work.”

“So, let me get this straight. I’m a clone that has been growing on ice, inside a bunker basement in Brazil, for three and a half years. Meanwhile my real self went off and died somewhere?”

“It makes sense,” Natasha finally spoke. “Her memories begin right after she was thrown into the pit. Considering how subdued she’d been while imprisoned there, it was the prime time to set their plan into motion if they really were going to clone her.”

“I don’t—I don’t understand,” Rune mumbled, a million different thoughts and emotions burning behind her reddening eyes. “So I’m not—I’m not me, then? Do I even have my gift anymore?”

“That, I cannot say. Your ability to bend wills cannot be studied other than with physical example, and I personally have not yet seen it’s full function on a human’s conscious.”

“Which means I have to _use_ it to see if it still exists.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Welp, there goes that.”

“What do you mean?” Steve questioned.

“Unless you’ve got some prisoners shacked up in this place, I can’t test it out here. I made a promise to Buck that I wouldn’t use it on any of you, and I intend to keep that promise.”

She had a point; since there was no way they were going to be able to convince her to try it on one of them, and they didn’t have anyone currently sitting in their holding cells, they were going to have to wait to see. “Thank you, Dr. Cho,” Steve said instead, Rune having gone silent. “We appreciate all of your help.”

“I will continue helping with this case, but I am afraid I cannot do much more until I have the deciphered information that was coded in the chamber’s computer.”

“I appreciate it, doc,” Rune attempted a smile, though it barely twitched her lips. “I think—I think I’m going to go back to sleep, now.”

“Of course. I understand the first day after coming out of cryo can be draining on the body. I will be back by soon to check in on you though.”

With that she shut the tablet down, and took her leave. As soon as she was gone, Rune sunk back into the pillows, tucking beneath the blankets again. “Did you want one of us to stay with you?” Steve offered. The thought of leaving her alone after getting a bomb like that was not settling well with him. “Buck and I can take shifts.”

“Nah, I’ll be alright. You two get some sleep,” she waved them off, never meeting their eyes. “You can bring me muffins in the morning or-or something.”

When Steve frowned at Bucky, he sighed before reaching down to kiss her head. “If you need us, please have one of the nurses call, ok? I mean it, Rune.”

“Yeah, Buck.”

“обещать?”

It was when he held his metal pinky out to her that she finally cracked a genuine smile, her eyes rolling fondly before she hooked her own around it. “обещать.”

“Good-night, Rune.”

“Night, Cap.”

“I’ll hang out with her for a little while longer,” Natasha decided as she kicked her boots up onto the mattress. “I’m too wired from the trip home to sleep right now.”

“Thanks, Natasha,” Steve smiled. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

Bucky’s grip was bone-breaking tight in his own as they made their way from the hospital room out into the hallway. Neither of them spoke until they made it back across the base towards their bedroom. “What did they do to her, Steve?” Bucky hissed. “Why clone her? She fought them the entire time she was forced to work for Pierce!”

“I don’t know. Maybe they thought, once she woke, they could manipulate her? Convince her to finally join their cause?”

“If that was their plan, then they’re idiots for keeping her memories.”

“HYDRA has never been one for their common sense, Buck.”

He heaved a sigh before nodding, falling silent again. “How are we going to tell her, Stevie? How—how do you tell someone they died? Because it ain’t like you and me. Sure, we _should_ have fucking died, but she actually did. She died, and now we have to tell her fucking clone that the real her blew up and—Jesus, what the hell is our life?”

Steve gently pulled him to a stop at the crack in his voice. “Hey, hey! It’s alright. We’ll figure it out, just like we always do.”

When his hands cupped his face, Bucky took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I can’t even imagine what she’s thinking. I mean, did you see her face when Cho told her?”

“That’s what we’re here for,” he reminded him sharply. “Rune spent her last life protecting us. Spent her last years making sure that, once we found each other again, we could spend the rest of our time on this planet _free_. Now that she’s back and needs our help, we are going to do whatever it damn well takes to make sure that she’s not only safe, but that we help her through this whole ordeal. Because trust me, beneath that sarcasm, she’s _scared_. We both can see it.”

Bucky swallowed thickly, those gray-blue eyes searching his briefly, before he pushed forward to seal their mouths together, mismatched hands gripping the front of Steve’s shirt. After a few seconds, letting the taste, feel, and smell of each other calm the buzz in their skin, they pulled away again. “Together.”

“Till the end of the line, jerk.”

“Punk,” he smirked before kissing him again. “Come on. I am dead on my feet, and I want to get up as early as we can to check on her.”

Even as they finally settled down, Bucky tucked safely against Steve’s chest, his breath evening out almost as soon as his body finally relaxed, Steve’s mind continued to race. He knew Pierce worked all of Rune’s life to web her into his trap, only to receive a rebel hell-bent on making sure Pierce lost his own life’s work in return. So why clone her? Why go to all of this effort? Especially if turned out she no longer had her gift. As confusing as this entire situation was, though, he was also relieved. For as many times as he’d wished Rune had survived that explosion, that she could see what all of her hard work and determination had led to, he never thought anyone was actually listening.

Turns out, life worked in even more mysterious ways than Steve had already been exposed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Russian]  
> просыпайся – wake up  
> котёнок – kitten  
> Наталья – Natalia  
> я здесь – I am here  
> обещать - promise


	3. Chapter 3

When Steve’s eyes finally opened, the sun was just beginning to trickle in through the window, fanning out over the wood floor and across the foot of the bed. Bucky was still asleep, his body spread out like a star fish, face drooling where it was squished into his pillow, and his metal fingers hooked lightly over Steve’s arm. He learned pretty quickly after they started sharing a bed that Bucky couldn’t sleep unless some part of him—foot, hand, face, his entire body a few times—was touching Steve. He’d explained that, even though unconscious, he simply needed to know that Steve was there. Not that Steve was complaining; he’d suction cup himself to Bucky all day if he could. After a few minutes of watching him, Steve couldn’t resist shifting himself onto his side, being wary not dislodge the metal limb secured around his arm, before gently running his fingers against his cheek and up into his hair. God, this man was stunning. Even after the hell he’d been through, he was still the most beautiful person Steve’d ever known, every scar, new and old, only adding to that appeal.

He knew they needed to get up and face the day, to go and check in on Rune and see if Natasha had gained any progress on deciphering any of her files, but that didn’t stop him from scooting even closer. As soon as his free arm settled onto the mattress over Bucky’s back, he began to kiss lightly down his spine, pressing warm lips against tantalizingly tan skin. It’d taken them awhile to get to this stage in their relationship too; Bucky, in the beginning, had aversions to being touched too much in his sleep. One night, while they were still in Wakanda, Steve accidentally rolled over and curled up around his back. A second later he suddenly found himself on the floor, the force nearly sending him colliding with the wall. Bucky apologized profusely for over an hour after that. They worked on it though: small touches here and there, fingers gently running through his hair as he fell asleep, anything to get him used to the feeling. Almost a year and a half later, the man now slept through practically everything.

_Almost_ everything.

As he gently laved his tongue along the waist band of his boxer-briefs, Bucky’s hips shifted, his face dragging across his pillow. Steve patiently waited until his body relaxed again, head tilting to find those long lashes still sweeping over his cheeks. Yup, still out like a light. He used to sleep the same exact way back when they lived in their apartment; not even his ma could wake him up half the time! Once he was sure the brunet was out again, he continued his pathway of kisses back up Bucky’s spine. This time though, he gently slipped his fingers beneath the elastic snug across his hips. His nails lightly scratched through the curled hair as they passed before sliding further down to the warm flesh thickening against his thigh. This had been another hurdle for them; Steve always asked permission before doing things with Bucky, especially if it was of the sexual kind. He’d had so much done to him without his consent that Steve always wanted to give him the option to voice his opinion, whether or not he already knew what the answer would be. Despite the fact Bucky was asleep, and couldn’t voice his approval, he’d insisted to Steve that this was something he enjoyed waking up to. Like, _a lot_. So, on the occasional sunny morning, Steve swallowed his need for Bucky to give him permission to touch, and lavished this beautiful man.

When his fingers finally curled around Bucky’s now twitching length, Bucky’s breath hitched, Steve’s grin widening as he nibbled lightly at his exposed ear. Despite the bad angle, and lack of room, he was still able to twist his wrist just right for a good amount of friction. As his index finger dipped into the tip he felt a drop of precum slip from the head, his teeth biting sharply into his lip; God, he wanted to get his mouth around that. Knowing he didn’t have time to drag this out though, he picked up the pace of his hand. Bucky’s breaths were coming shorter now, his hips beginning to lightly thrust forward into his fist and his fingers digging roughly into the sheets and around where he was still holding Steve’s arm. “S-Steve,” he panted, still asleep.

It was nice to know that even in a wet dream he was still thinking about Steve; definitely did not stroke his ego at all. Nope. “Can you come for me, Bucky?” 

He got a low whine in response, Bucky’s hips’ quickening their pace. As Steve dipped his head to bite at the juncture between his shoulder and neck, he finally saw those gray-blue eyes open, his heart fluttering at the sight just as it always did. “Fuck, Stevie,” he moaned, his back arching into the sensation and hips angling to finally give him better access. “F-faster.”

“I got you,” Steve reassured him. With his other arm finally free, he wrapped it around Bucky’s chest to thumb at his left nipple. “Are you close?”

“Y-yes.”

Steve responded by pinching the bud between this fingers and rolling it as he nibbled at his ear again. “Come, Buck. Come for me.”

“Fuck!” Bucky exclaimed when Steve nipped at the skin beneath his jaw.

His hips sputtered as he spilled over Steve’s knuckles, soaking the inside of his boxers. Steve continued to work him through it though, continued to whisper in his ear, “I love you. God, I love you so much.” When Bucky went limp against the mattress is when Steve finally retracted his hand. As he grabbed a tissue from the nightstand though, he was sure to softly kiss his shoulder. “Good-morning.”

Bucky laughed as he turned his head to finally get a good look at him. “I think that’s an understatement, Stevie,” he practically glowed. “C’mere, ya mook.”

When he reached his arm up and out to him Steve instantly tucked into his side, finally getting the chance to kiss him. He hummed eagerly into it for a few seconds before pulling away. “Hi.”

“Hello yourself. Did you need help with that?”

He couldn’t help his light chuckle when he felt Bucky’s thigh brush against the tent in his boxers. As nice as that would be, he knew they didn’t have time to take care of him, too. “I’m alright. Right now, you need to shower before we go down and check on Rune. I still feel bad about leaving her down there by herself.”

“True point,” Bucky agreed before kissing him again. “Be right back.”

Steve busied himself by changing the bed sheets and getting dressed, sliding into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Conveniently, they weren’t scheduled for training today, which meant they had all day to spend helping Rune get settled. The entire situation was complicated, more so considering her affiliation with HYDRA as Bucky’s handler, but hopefully Fury would still let her stay. Maybe Steve could use the defense that this Rune was technically only three years old? Ten minutes later, he heard the shower turn off, Bucky emerging with a towel around his waist. “About time. I was starting to think the base was going to run out of water.”

Bucky responded by punching him in the arm on his way to the dresser. “Punk.”

“Jerk.”

As Bucky slid into a pair of black jeans, just beginning to dig through their t-shirt drawer, their front door burst open. Before he could panic he recognized the familiar mist of red magic, and a second later, an extremely pissed off Wanda marched into their room. “Jesus, Maximoff!” Bucky shouted, instinctively grabbing his towel to cover his bare chest. Steve couldn’t help his eyeroll. “Ever hear of knocking?”

“What is going on, Steven?” she demanded, talking right over Bucky’s protest. “And do not dare lie to me.”

“Ugh, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about right now,” Steve blinked. Did something happen while they were sleeping? Or while they were gone in Brazil? “Could you maybe be a little more specific?”

“Rune.” This time her eyes shifted to Bucky, Steve watching as he physically swallowed. “I can feel her here. It’s—it’s faint, but I know it’s her. Now tell me what is going on!”

When Bucky glanced back at him, Steve nodded his head; Wanda had just as much of a right to know about Rune being alive as they did. “She’s here.”

Her face almost instantly paled. “H-how? She died, did she not? You told me she died! I even received her final good-bye!”

“She did die, Wanda. We wouldn’t lie about that,” Steve stepped in. “But this is—this isn’t _our_ Rune. She’s a clone.”

“I do not understand.”

“Natasha found her in a cryo chamber hidden in the basement of a HYDRA base. After running tests and scans once we were able to wake her up, we came to find that this isn’t her original body. She might have the same mind, the same memories, but her body is completely new. Reborn, almost.”

They both waited for the information to sink in, her hands flexing at her sides with the occasional spark of magic. Eventually she was able to find her voice again, though. “Will she—will she remember me?”

“She will. Her memories stop right after Pierce threw her into the pit in Greenland.”

“So she is missing three and a half years of memories? Does she even know what happened to her after she escaped?”

“No. Rune knows she died, but we haven’t exactly found the best way to tell her the details of how yet.”

“May I see her, please?”

“Yeah, of course, Wanda. We were just headed down there ourselves, actually.”

“Thank you.”

After Bucky and Steve finished getting dressed, they followed Wanda back out into the hallway, Steve mentally reminding himself to fix their door when they got back. They wound their way through the growing crowd of workers and trainees, occasionally greeting anyone who noticed them. None seemed to be gossiping about a blue-haired stranger on base though, so that was one plus to the situation. As they weaved across to the medical wing, Steve could feel his heart begin to race. What if they got there and she was gone? Or what if he’d imagined all of this up again? It was difficult for him not to associate this Rune to the one from his hallucinations back in Wakanda; the only thing keeping him grounded was the fact Bucky and Natasha could see her too.

Unfortunately for Steve’s psyche, when they finally reached her room, they found it empty. “What the hell?” Bucky gaped. “Where is she?”

The sheets were rumpled, an empty glass resting on the tray over the bed, but its occupant was gone. “Did she leave?” Wanda questioned quietly.

“Nurse!” Bucky hollered down the hall, a blonde man peeking out from the neighboring room. “Where is the girl that was admitted to this room?”

“She hasn’t been discharged yet, or permitted to walk the base without a chaperone, so she should be there somewhere.”

Yup, that was a comforting answer. Just as they made to take apart the entire room, Bucky already halfway through digging his phone from his pocket to probably text Natasha, someone cleared their throat. “We having a party in my room?”

Steve barely bit back a yelp as he jumped, Bucky instinctively pulling him away from the voice as Wanda screamed. When they found Rune standing there though, a donut clutched in her hand, he sighed in relief. “You scared the shit out of us, Rune.”

Before Rune could retort with a most likely sassy comment, she zeroed in on Wanda. “Wanda? What the hell are you doing here?”

“мојa месец.”

Wanda made a soft, choked off noise before taking two steps forward and throwing her arms around her shoulders, her face shoving into her neck where she immediately broke down. Rune managed to get her arms around the now sobbing girl, her eyes wide as she stared helplessly at Bucky and Steve. Steve forgot that Rune didn’t know about the events that followed Ultron. Which also meant she didn’t know about Pietro’s death. “Hey, come on now, kid. I wasn’t gone that long.”

“You weren’t supposed to come back at all!” she cried, pulling her impossibly closer. “I didn’t—I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Rune sighed, the hand not holding a donut lightly cupping the back of her head. “I’m here now, моја Звезда.”

“Come on,” Steve finally found his voice again. “Let’s get back inside.”

Steve shut the door behind them once they all filed into the room, Wanda gluing herself to Rune’s side as soon as she got comfortable on the bed. Rune didn’t seem to mind though, her free arm curling around her shoulders before finally taking a huge chunk out of the sugary dough. As Steve and Bucky sat back down in the chairs at her bedside, she held it out to Bucky who instantly took a bite, Steve declining when she offered to him. “Where did you go?”

“The commissary.”

“You know better than to wander alone right now. What if someone recognized you?”

“Oh please,” she snorted, allowing Bucky to take one more bite before stuffing the rest into her cheek. Steve realized she briefly resembled a blue-haired chipmunk. “I was your handler. You know I am highly capable of sneaking out to the kitchen without being seen or having to use my possibly-non-existent gift.”

When Steve raised a curious brow to the brunet, he nodded. “Vents are her specialty. Because of how small she is, she barely makes any sound.”

“Not like Barton?”

“Barton I can hear coming from a mile away,” Bucky scoffed, leaning his chair back onto two legs. “Has Dr. Cho been back in here since we left?”

“To take vitals and stuff. I slept on and off through the night, but apparently clones sleep for shit, so there’s that. Nobody will give me any form of electronic though; apparently a lot of traumatizing things happened over the past three and a half years, so Natasha banned anyone from giving me anything with a screen or internet.”

“Good.”

“You’re going to have to tell me eventually, мой солдат.” Steve vaguely remembered the nickname, both spoken from Rune and Natasha. Whatever it was, it hit Bucky, his chair dropping back to all fours. “Come on, Dr. Cho already spilled the biggest bomb. Everything else will be a piece of cake!”

“A lot happened after you went into the pit, Rune,” Bucky frowned, his metal hand running roughly through his still drying hair. “And most of it ain’t a cakewalk like you’re hoping.”

“She needs to know, Barnes,” Wanda spoke up. She’d been quiet this entire time, damn near curled up in Rune’s lap at this point. “She _deserves_ to know.”

When Bucky turned to Steve, he held his hand out with an encouraging smile, Bucky instantly taking it. “Now’s better than never. It’s only going to get harder the longer you try and put it off.”

After staring at him for a few seconds, he seemed to come to the same conclusion, and eventually caved. So, he started from the beginning. Told her about Project Insight and seeing Steve for the first time, the death of Pierce, and how Bucky disappeared for two years after pulling Steve from the Potomac. Steve and Wanda told her about their fight with Ultron, Wanda nearly breaking down again when they came to the part about Pietro’s death and how he’d saved Barton and the child. Steve even told her a few stories from Sam and Steve’s around the world chase to try and bring Bucky home. Then came the Civil War with Stark and the signing of the Accords where T’Challa’s father had been killed and Bucky initially blamed for his death. Steve could see Rune’s anger slowly beginning to grow the further the story went, her teeth biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from interrupting. When they finally reached the part where Rune and Steve met for the first time, however, all of them hesitated. Rune seemed to refuse to sit in the tense silence any longer though, quickly pressing the subject further. “What happened next? I mean, Buck obviously managed to get back out of cryo. Are the words gone?”

How were they going to explain this? How could they explain that she never got to see Bucky again before she died? That she literally blew herself up to finally set them free? And how Steve ended up hallucinating her for weeks even after she’d died? Surprisingly, Wanda came up with the easiest solution of it all. “The locket, Barnes. Show her.”

Bucky’s free hand instantly clasped over his sternum, metal clanking beneath the touch. Beneath his shirt he always wore Steve’s dog tags and Rune’s locket. As soon as he’d required them, a gift from Steve as a welcome home gift after his trial, he never took them off except for showers. That way he could keep both of them close to him at all times. The pieces didn’t seem to start falling into place for Rune until he finally pulled the silver locket and tags from beneath his shirt, letting it fall free against his chest again. She stiffened, her eyes glued to the single wing etched in the front. “Is that—? That’s my locket. How did you get it? Drake took it off of me before they dropped me off in Greenland,” she muttered, voice shaking. Steve’s pretty sure he saw the exact moment everything finally clicked, her eyes widening. “Kodiak. Did I—that’s how I died, isn’t it? I finally got your files out. I-I finally did it. But, wait, does that mean you’re—Buck, does this mean you’re finally free? That HYDRA can’t touch you anymore?”

Steve could feel his own eyes burning as Bucky nodded, his grip tightening in Steve’s. “Yeah, Rune,” he chuckled despite the crack in his voice. “You did it.”

Rune instantly hopped over Wanda and off of the bed to shove herself into Bucky’s arms. “It worked,” she hiccupped, tears streaming down both of their faces. “It worked, it worked, it worked. I can’t believe it.”

“Everything you set up saved me. Everything, Rune,” Bucky grit out as he clung to her. “The formulas, the files that Natasha presented at my trial when we came back to the states, your talk with Stark, you—you did so much more than release their hold on me. _So much more_. And I never got to thank you for it.”

“I kept my promise,” she laughed wetly. “I can’t believe it.”

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Slowly they were able to catch their breath, both Steve and Wanda watching on patiently. Suddenly Rune’s hand began flapping Steve’s direction, her fingers curling around the sleeve of his t-shirt before she turned her head from Bucky’s neck to look at him. “I’m sorry, Steve.”

“For what?”

“As soon as I found out you were alive, I knew you had to be the one I gave his files to. Which means you were the last person I saw before the bomb went off,” she explained. Steve swallowed thickly before he nodded. “So, I’m sorry. That was a lot of pressure for me to have put on you, even for a good cause.”

“I’ll never need an apology for that. I would have gone to the ends of the earth to help him if that’s what it took. Besides, you were the one who made the biggest sacrifice.”

“He’s worth it, though.”

“Yeah,” Steve met Bucky’s glance before smiling. “Yeah he is.”

Suddenly something seemed to occur to Bucky, his attention dropping back down to Rune. “You—you probably want your locket back, huh?”

As he made to reach for the chain though, she gently grabbed his wrist. “Keep it. I like how you’ve been keeping Steve and I close to your heart like that. We’re good luck.”

Considering their stroke of luck after he started wearing Steve’s tags and Rune’s locket, there might have been more truth to that statement than they realized. Besides, Steve had to admit he liked seeing them tangled together; reminded him of how he’d always kept Peggy close to his own heart in his compass out in the field. “You big sap,” Bucky grinned brightly, lightly nosing her temple before practically beaming at Steve. “Aw, Stevie, you’re flushing!”

“Am not!”

When both Bucky and Rune were able to regain their composure, Wanda sliding them the box of tissues, Rune finally climbed out of his lap with a kiss to his cheek before turning back for the bed. Bucky took Steve’s hand back in his own again, grip tight as he kissed his knuckles. It looked like a hundred pound weight had slid off of his shoulders. Both of their shoulders. The three of them talked for almost an hour, telling stories and sharing memories. It was comfortable, the stress of the earlier conversations having settled into the back of their minds. Just as Bucky was retelling a story about how Peggy kicked Dum Dum’s ass in a shot challenge, the door opened to reveal Natasha and Hill. “Good, looks like we’ve got everyone here,” Hill nodded as her tablet lit up. “When we couldn’t find you two in your room, I figured this is where you’d be.”

Rune slowly sat up, Wanda’s arms sliding back around her waist as they all watched Hill hesitantly. “Um, hello?”

“Hello, Miss Crow. My name is Maria Hill and I am currently standing in as director until ours returns from a meeting in Japan.”

“Ok. What can I help you with?”

“I’m here to debrief you, Barnes, and Rogers. I just need your version of what happened in Brazil and then I can get out of your hair,” she explained, eyes still glued to her screen. When she finally glanced back up, she focused on Rune first. “Let’s start with you, Crow.”

“I woke up, punched a few people, then Buck and Steve brought me here.”

“Rune,” Steve scolded. “Tame your sass.”

Thankfully seeming to fight off an eyeroll, she sighed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. Romanoff already gave me her tell of events on how they found your cryo chamber. Now I just need to fill in a few missing pieces before I finish up my interview with Dr. Cho on her discoveries about you being a clone,” she explained further. “How about we start with Rogers and Barnes instead?”

“Not much to tell on our end either,” Bucky shrugged. “As Team Echo was finishing their mission with us on the Canadian border, Romanoff called us with an emergency on her mock-mission in Brazil. She couldn’t give us details over the line though, so after fueling up, we sent an update to base and met her down there.”

“Upon arrival, Romanoff lead us into the bunker, down through a secret entrance, where we inevitably found a cryo chamber containing Rune. Which should be impossible considering she was KIA a year and a half ago in Kodiak, Alaska.”

“And you’d been witness to that, correct?”

Steve nodded. “Both Natasha and I were, yes.”

“It took Romanoff and I about thirty minutes before we were able to successfully start the defrosting program in the chamber to wake her up,” Bucky continued.

“Which is not a pleasant experience,” Rune grumbled. “Considering HYDRA doesn’t give two flying fucks about giving their prospects comfort when they are literally thawing from below freezing temperatures, it took a very long and painful few minutes for me to come back from the metaphoric dead. For this body, anyway.”

“It’s said you were masked and cuffed. Is that normal for your cryo process?”

“HYDRA never trusted me, not that I gave them any reason to. So, their solution to keep me from ambushing and killing them when I woke up, was muzzling and handcuffing me before putting me back on ice.”

“Was that the same process for Barnes?”

“Nah. Essentially they used me as his muzzle and cuffs.”

“Because of your ability.”

“Yup.”

Hill’s fingers flew across the screen of her tablet for a few seconds before she glanced up again. “It’s reported you attacked our STRIKE team after you woke up.”

“Can you blame me? I’m used to waking up to HYDRA assholes and labcoats. This time I woke up to my asset, which has _never_ happened before, and an entire room of strangers who looked nothing like the sleazebags Pierce hires as his minions. So, yeah, I panicked and tried to get Bucky and I the fuck out of there.”

“He was able to talk her down though,” Steve reassured Hill. “After he convinced her we were trustworthy, she was one-hundred percent cooperative. She even allowed Dr. Cho to do every scan and test in the book as soon as we returned to base.”

“Where we learned you are not the original Rune Lilliana Crow.”

“Trust me, I’m just as surprised as you are,” Rune grumbled. Steve could hear the bitterness in her tone, his frown deepening as he shared a look with Bucky. “I’ve been here ever since.”

“Mostly.”

“Snitch.”

“I do appreciate your cooperation,” Hill nodded. After punching in a few more things, she shut her tablet off with a small smile. “Thank you, Miss Crow. That’s all I need for now. Once Dr. Cho officially discharges you, you will be able to amble around the base as you please while we setup your own quarters. When the director returns, we will further discuss possible training, if you are interested.”

“Wait, what?” Rune blinked. “I’m not being detained or anything?”

Shit; Steve hadn’t even considered that. Rune had a lot of charges on her record, a file that Fury and Hill had studied down to the bone during Bucky’s trial, so they had plenty of evidence to lock her away again for a very, _very_ long time. To his surprise though, Hill shook her head, folding her hands and tablet against the small of her back “No.”

“Why? I mean, judging by what I’m hearing, everyone knows who I am and what I’ve done. Now that I’m technically alive again, people will probably want me behind bars or hung or something.”

“Rune.”

“It’s true,” she shrugged against Bucky’s attempt to defend her. “As noble as my mission was to free you, I still willingly _stayed_ and worked with Pierce. Sure, I hated every second I had to be near that twisted fuck, but it doesn’t change anything. I stayed your handler and—honestly—I killed a shit ton of people. Most not so favorable, but not the point.”

“I killed people too, Rune.”

“But the difference is you were brain-washed and violently conditioned, Buck. You didn’t even know who you were half the time before I started helping you! Yeah, I was tortured when I disobeyed, and I went through some shitty situations, but I still knew what I was doing. I could have left, had multiple chances to bail and disappear, but I didn’t. I refused to leave without you.”

“As true as all of that is,” Hill cut into the obviously growing argument, “we wouldn’t be able to prosecute you for any crimes you’ve committed, anyway.”

“Seriously? Why not?”

“Because you’re dead. Yes, your clone is an impressive replica of your old self, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the you who committed the crimes while working for HYDRA, is _dead_. Nothing would hold in court on that point alone.”

“Well, damn,” Rune blinked, a grin pulling across her face. “That’s going to piss a shit ton of people off.”

“Yes, yes it will,” Hill chuckled. “I will be back once your quarters are prepared and you have been discharged by Dr. Cho.”

“Thank you, Maria,” Steve smiled. “We appreciate it.”

With a nod of her head Hill disappeared back out into the hall, leaving Natasha in the doorway. “Well, that went better than I thought.”

“Right? Was totally expecting to go back into a pair of cuffs.”

“I, for one, am glad you were not,” Wanda grumbled. She shifted them around until she was tucked into the V of Rune’s legs and could wrap Rune’s arms around her middle before snuggling back beneath the sheets. Steve couldn’t help his grin at the sight; maybe he could sneak a picture in? “If I was not prosecuted for my role with HYDRA and Ultron, then you should not be either.”

“моја Звезда, I am a lot older than you and spent many more years under their tentacles,” Rune reminded her, not seeming to be bothered by their new change in position. “I still don’t understand why they chose a skull octopus as their symbol. Octopus don’t even have bones!”

“People started spreading rumors that I was HYDRA while we were in Wakanda,” Steve added. 

Natasha snorted as she rolled her eyes. “Because that totally makes sense. You practically shit the American flag, Rogers.”

“People are idiots.”

Eventually, the need for food called to them. After promising to come back to visit Rune later, and making her swear not to sneak out again with the bribe of returning with snacks, they made their way towards the commissary. “Wilson is not going to believe this, you know.”

“I personally am waiting for Stark’s reaction when he sees Rune is alive and well.”

Steve and Bucky immediately grinned at her. “I like the way you think, Maximoff.”

Stark, despite the fact he basically kept the power on at the base, wasn’t around too often. He still had a business to run, so he only stopped by a couple times a week. Usually in the most dramatic way possible, too. Considering how much Rune’s talk with him effected his decision to repave that road with Steve, and Bucky, and even pushed him to trying even harder with Pepper Potts, it was definitely going to be an interesting sight to see what he does when he finds out she isn’t as dead as he thought. Steve couldn’t help his grin at the thought. “And what the hell are you grinning about, Steve?”

“What Stark’s face is going to look like when he finds out Rune is alive.”

Sam’s jaw dropped, eyes wide, his grip on his fork full of eggs nearly slipping; Parker looked mildly concerned, his hand twitching to catch the utensil if it fell. Bucky gently nudged Steve before pointing to Sam. “Like that, but with a lot more screaming.”

“Did you just—did you just say that Rune is alive?” Sam stared, still unmoving. “The Rune who blew herself up to save Barnes?”

“Trust me, we were just as surprised.”

“How the hell is that even possible?”

“We’ll explain later. You can even come with us and meet her, if you want.”

Wanda wandered off a few minutes later to find Vision, most likely to tell him the big news, Natasha returning soon after with pancakes and a pile of fruit. An amused smile instantly pulled across her face when she realized how pale Sam looked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Wilson.”

“Can you blame me?” Sam squeaked, breakfast completely forgotten. “Barnes’ handler is somehow miraculously alive! I may not have ever met the girl, but I saw the videos at the trial, man.”

“Oh please, she’s harmless.”

“Because you’re her favorite, Barnes!”

“What’s a handler?” Parker frowned. “And why is this girl so terrifying?”

“We’ll—uh—we’ll explain it to you later,” Steve tried smiling reassuringly. “It’s a long story.”

“Besides, since my mission ended early, you and I are back on training together.”

Parker visibly swallowed, his eyes widening as he stared at Natasha’s failed attempt at an innocent smile. “Already? But-but I like training with Wilson better!”

“It’s either me, or I can bring in Rogers instead.”

If possible, his eyes widened even more. “No! I can’t handle his disappointed face!”

Steve blinked as Bucky, Sam, and Natasha burst into laughter. “It’s not that bad!”

“Not as bad as your kicked puppy look,” Sam shrugged. “But it’s still got people scrambling to make it stop.”

At Steve’s pout, Bucky wrapped his arm around his waist and kissed his cheek, surprisingly ignoring the fact they were in a crowded room; the emotional confession with Rune must have closed off his paranoia about PDA at the base just a little bit. He always did get cuddly after an emotional roller coaster like earlier, not that Steve was complaining. The subject of Rune’s return thankfully faded into the background as they moved onto talking about their lessons for the week and how Scott Lang would be stopping by in a few days for an upgrade on his suit. Bucky threw a mini-fit at that; he still held a grudge on the poor man for having touched Steve while they were at the airport in Germany. Steve had tried to remind him, multiple times, that Lang had been on their side from the beginning, but nothing seemed to be able to burn out that jealous anger. It’d toned down a bit since Steve confessed he loved him, but it still simmered there every time he heard the man’s name. Didn’t help that poor Lang was absolutely _terrified_ of Bucky. Something Bucky knew very well and exploited to his heart’s content…..

Steve couldn’t deny that he really enjoyed the tingling feeling he got when Bucky got possessive, though.

After finishing their brunch, as Sam called it, they decided to watch in on Natasha’s training with Parker. Which, was definitely not pleasant for the poor boy. He might have kicked Sam and Bucky’s ass in the airport, but Natasha was a storm to be reckoned with. “You know Fury is going to want to talk to Rune when he gets back from Japan,” Bucky kept his voice low.

“Well, now that we don’t have to worry about her getting arrested, I think she can handle it,” Steve shrugged, wincing when Parker hit the mat, _hard_. “Plus, he’ll want to hear the events from us too, so we’ll be there with her.”

Bucky nodded, his arms slowly uncrossing from his chest. “I—um, I wanted to thank you, actually.”

“What for?”

“For sticking around while we told Rune what happened.” When Steve glanced at him in confusion though, Bucky instantly started to sputter out words in a panic, not giving him even a second to process or respond. “I know—I know her and I have history. Maybe not like Natalia and I had, but she and I were-were still close, and now she’s going to be around the base, which means she’ll be hanging around us, but I don’t want you to think—I mean, she and I are-are really close, probably a bit too close sometimes, but it’s just how it was. Especially when Pierce or Rumlow weren’t breathing down our necks, we took advantage of the company, you know? It was just nice to be, you know, free, and she helped me with that. She started the domino effect towards finding myself again. Which might come off wrong to some people around here—“

Steve finally understood where this panicked train was heading when he realized he was gripping his necklace like a lifeline. Like someone was going to try and take it away from him. Like _Steve_ was going to take it away from him out of a jealous spite or some ridiculous fear. Instantly Steve held his fingers up, pressing them against Bucky’s lips, and effectively shutting him up. Once he heard his jaw click shut, he moved his hand down to gently pry his white-knuckle grip loose from the chain. “I ain’t going anywhere, Buck. I know how close you and Rune are. I may not have experienced it in person, but I’ve heard the stories and I’ve seen the results of what your relationship’s effect had. Especially today in that hospital room,” he slowly explained. When he was finally able to pull Bucky’s hand free, he held it tight in his own. “In a way—hell, Buck. In every way, Rune is your Peggy.”

Bucky’s breath hitched, his eyes widening. “Steve.”

“You love each other. Even after everything that’s happened, you two are still there to protect each other, to help when the other needs you. More than that, she’s a part of you; can’t help it after everything you two have gone through. _I_ will _forever_ be grateful for everything she’s done for you, for us, and I don’t care what anyone else says.”

“Like how I’m grateful for Peggy taking care of your scrawny ass before and after the serum. Glad someone with brains like hers could be there to keep you from doing somethin’ stupid.”

“Exactly. You support the way I loved Peggy. You never put me down or complained about it, not even back when I hadn’t known how much you loved me; you know how important she was to me, and you always remind me how much her support helped me survive.” Ignoring the fact they were still in the training room, Steve cupped the back of his head and pulled them forehead to forehead, Bucky’s free hand curling around the hemming of his shirt. “You show me how much you love me every single day we’re together. I will never doubt how you feel about me, got it? Not even when—or if, I guess—we grow old and I develop Alzheimer’s or something. My heart is yours, and I know yours is mine. _Always_.”

“I do love you, Stevie. So fucking much.”

“And I love you,” he risked kissing him chastely. “Besides, look at it this way! We have another duckling in our ever-growing pond of ex-HYDRA agents.”

“Sap.”

“Your sap.”

“Not to eavesdrop, even though that’s totally what I was doing because you two are disgustingly lovey-dovey,” Sam suddenly cut through the moment. “Will you two ever age? Or will you stay two super-soldiers with God-like bods until the planet implodes?”

“Fuck you, Wilson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Serbian]  
> мојa месец – my moon  
> моја Звезда – my star
> 
> [Russian]  
> мой солдат – my soldier


	4. Chapter 4

“What am I looking for, exactly?” Steve questioned.

“Just wait for it!” Bucky hissed, barely stifling his giggle. “It’s going to be great.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but decided to continue amusing him and watch the spot just behind Sam. Having seen the pointing, and assuming it was about him though, Sam instantly perked up. “What’s up Barnes?”

“Nothing,” Bucky dropped his arm, his grin widening when Sam looked hesitantly behind himself. “Just commenting on how sexy you are when you knock that bag around.”

Sam responded by grabbing his water bottle and flipping him off. “Not all of us can have serum-enhanced abs like you two. Where’s your infamous friend, by the way? I’m officially meeting her today, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah, she’s coming. Keep your pants on, Wilson.”

Which was true. Rune had officially been discharged the night before and given the quarters just across from Bucky and Steve’s. Steve had a feeling Hill had done that on purpose to keep her around someone she knew, just in case. Fury still hadn’t returned, so the only thing Hill could sign off on, as for her involvement with SHIELD, was training. Considering how long she’d been in cryo, and the fact she was in a cloned body, they wanted to make sure she was still in top physical condition. Not that they had anything to worry about, if how she literally came swinging out of the chamber back in Brazil said anything. As Sam shot back with another comment, the vent just behind him suddenly swung open, Steve biting the inside of his cheek to keep his face even. It didn’t take a genius to know what was happening; apparently the room wasn’t as sans-Rune as they thought. When she landed lightly behind him, literally making no sound just as Bucky had said, Sam didn’t even flinch. “Well, if she sleeps anything like you do, you might have to go wake her up yourself, Barnes.”

Bucky’s grin widened as Rune crept up behind him, rising up on her toes to get as close to his ear as she could. “Yeah, about that….”

“HI!”

Sam shrieked, _loudly_ , his body pitching forward and straight into Bucky. Both he and Steve burst into laughter, his sides beginning to ache from the force as Sam stared at Rune in horror. “What the fuck!?”

Rune simply waved. “Hello.”

“Where did you even come from?” When she pointed up, Sam’s head lifted to the open vent. “Shit, we’ve got another Barton?”

“A quieter, smaller version,” Steve shrugged. “But yeah.”

After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, Sam eventually regained his composure, and pushed away from Bucky. Rune took that as her sign it was safe to approach and instantly held her hand out. “My name is Rune. You must be Sam.”

“Uh, yeah,” Sam cleared his throat before taking it. “Sam. Sam Wilson.”

“Like the volleyball?”

“I understand that reference!” Steve instantly exclaimed, his hand clamping sharply over his mouth. When Sam raised a brow at him, Rune and Bucky grinning ear-to-ear, he shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t get it last time, so I was sure to watch Castaway as soon as I got back to Wakanda.”

“Aren’t you adorable,” Bucky chuckled as Steve lightly elbowed him. “Now that our introductions are out of the way, we should probably get to training.”

“How do you want to do this?” Rune questioned as she began to stretch her arms. “One against one?”

“Yeah, we can switch off after each round, then see if maybe we can work up to two-v-two.”

“Barnes is on my team when that happens,” Sam prewarned. “No way in hell am I going to go up against the lovebirds who practically share one mind, or the assassin and his mini-handler.”

“Chickenshit.”

“Fuck yes I am!”

“Ok, ok, boys, let’s get this started, shall we?”

Sam and Steve started the round off. Despite the fact he was always against two super soldiers during their practices, Sam was highly capable of standing his own. He’d even managed to pin Steve down for a few seconds before he was tossed back onto the mat, Steve ending the match by literally lying down across his stomach like a starfish. Bucky and Rune were next, her face lighting up as Bucky adjusted his metal arm. “This is my first time facing off with the new appendage!”

“Trust me, it’s a lot better than the last one.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, котёнок.”

After circling each other for a few seconds, Bucky was the first to move. Steve had to admit it was an experience watching them fight; Bucky was the one who helped shape his back-alley fighting when they were kids, and even helped him train during the war. If what Rune and Natasha had told him was true, Bucky was the one who helped them shape their fighting skills as well. He’d never really paid attention to their technique, but if he compared the three of them, they did fight in similar patterns. Though Bucky used a lot of brute force, mostly with his arm, he still had a graceful flow to his movements. In a sense, it was almost like watching a dance more than it was a fight. Bucky ended up winning the round, his weight being the key factor as soon as he managed to finally pin her to the floor.

“Cheater!”

“It’s not my fault you’re the size of a pygmy monkey.”

“Am not!”

“Are too.”

“Well you’re the size of a wildabeast!”

“Why thank you. Steve can attest to that.”

“Bucky!” Steve squeaked, Bucky instantly beaming up at him. “Ok, rounds over. Let her up before you say something even more mortifying.”

Bucky shot him a pouty lip before giving in and helping Rune back to her feet. Just as he and Sam set up to go a round against each other though, Hill appeared in the doorway. “Rogers, Barnes, a moment?”

The two soldiers shared a look before making their way to where she was standing in the doorway. Her tablet, as always, was practically glued to her hand. “What’s up, Hill?”

“You’re needed out in the field.”

Steve felt Bucky stiffen next to him but didn’t take notice of it. “Now?”

“Yes. Romanoff was sent this morning on a rumor that one of our newer SHIELD bases was being overrun. The original number of HYDRA operatives was misreported, however,” Hill mumbled, fingers typing against the screen of her tablet. “Let’s just say it has grown alarmingly fast since her arrival.”

“So you want us to go as back-up,” Steve nodded. “Parameters?”

“At this point, just get our base back under control with limited SHIELD casualties.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Barnes?” Hill questioned. Bucky flinched, his flesh hand gripped knuckle-white between them. “Is everything alright?”

“Y-yes. Just—“but he quickly shook the growing comment off. “Understood.”

“I expect a report as soon as the three of you have returned.”

They watched until she disappeared back out of the room. As soon as she was gone, Steve gently grasped Bucky’s bicep. “Buck, are you ok?”

It looked like Bucky was going to try and lie to him. As bad as Steve had been about keeping the truth from Bucky, Bucky didn’t have the best track record with doing it to Steve either. Thankfully, it’d been a road both of them were still working on. After glancing back to make sure Sam and Rune were distracted, he sighed. “I don’t want to leave Rune here alone.”

Steve should have known that was going to be an issue. “Then stay, Buck. Natasha and I can handle—“

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go out there alone. Nice try, Rogers,” Bucky snorted, his hand sharply grasping his shirt for emphasis. When his eyes drifted to Rune and Sam again, just in time to watch Rune flip Sam over her shoulder and onto his back, his frown deepened. “I just have to trust that Wilson and Wanda will be able to keep an eye on her while we’re gone.”

“You know they’d protect her with their lives if they had to,” Steve whispered. “Not that Rune isn’t highly capable of defending herself, or anything.”

After allowing Bucky a few moments to regain his composure, they made their way back over to where Rune officially had Sam pinned to the mat. “So, what did the nice lady want?”

“Hill,” Sam wheezed, “Maria Hill.”

“Right! Hill.”

“Bucky and I are being called out to assist Natasha on a mission. Apparently, she was given bad intel and needs back-up.”

A mixture of emotions flashed through Rune’s face, but eventually she settled with a small smile and returned to her feet, Steve offering Sam a hand up. “Good-luck then, I guess. Are you going far?”

Judging by the waver in her voice, she wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the idea of them leaving. “No, I don’t think so. If something were to happen, we’d still be able to get back here in time to help.”

“Ok. Well, have fun. And—um—and be careful, yeah?”

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

When Bucky held his metal hand out to her, Rune instantly took it with a timid nod. As they made their way to the corner of the room, Sam cleared his throat. “They aren’t liking the whole idea of separating already, are they?”

“Can you blame them? Not only are they dealing with the fact Rune is a clone that was possibly created without her gift, but this is the first mission that Bucky has been on since she woke up again. And not being allowed to follow after the asset you’ve been spending your life to protect for twenty-one years must be really hard on her. On the _both_ of them.”

“When will we be able to find out if she can still bend wills or not?”

“I guess not until we can bring in someone she has no conscious about trancing,” Steve shrugged. “So basically, we have no idea.”

“Super.”

The talk between Bucky and Rune didn’t look heated in any way, which was a positive. If anything it looked like Bucky was simply trying to reassure her that he would be fine, and that he and Steve would be back before she even noticed they were gone. Which was a bullshit lie, but hopefully it did the trick. Judging by the way she eased her hold on the hand he’d covered her cheek with, it had been enough for her. After another few seconds he chastely kissed her temple, lingering momentarily, before they finally separated and wandered back over to where Sam and Steve were waiting. “You ready, Stevie?”

“Yeah, Buck. You two take care of each other, yeah? We’ll be right back.”

“Good-luck!”

As they made their way from the training room to gear up, Steve gently reached over to take Bucky’s hand. “You two ok?”

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded as he squeezed his fingers in response. “It’s just—it’s just weird. I know I ain’t the soldier anymore, and she isn’t my handler, but knowing she won’t going to be out there with me, despite being awake, it’s—yeah, it’s weird.”

“She’ll still be there when we get back, Buck.” When Bucky merely smiled at him, Steve knew the subject had officially ended. “Right now, let’s worry about getting suited up and helping Natasha. Who knows what she’s dealing with down there in Miami.”

It turns out, Natasha was dealing with a lot down in Miami. What was reported as a ten-man team turned out to be almost triple that. By the time they were able to get on scene, they’d lost six SHIELD agents and Natasha had suffered a stab wound to the meaty part of her hip. “I’m fine, Rogers. Seriously.”

“Would you let him stitch you up, Romanoff? If you’re that insistent on going back in with us, last thing we need is your ass bleeding out.”

Natasha shot him a half-hearted glare before giving in with an eyeroll and obediently sitting still. “Fine.”

“Why do you think HYDRA is so persistent on taking over this base?” Steve questioned as he set to close her up as quickly as possible. “Is there something they need inside?”

“No, there shouldn’t be. This is a communications and surveillance base; it’s basically what we use to keep all of our bases in contact with each other, and to track the people SHIELD needs to keep tabs on.”

“So, there’s no real reason for them to be attacking this place.”

“Not unless they think destroying the systems will stop our cameras from watching them. Which is ridiculous because we can literally set this up from any of our headquarters too.”

“Looks like we’ll have to follow their trail and see exactly what they’re up to for ourselves,” Bucky grumbled, eyes watching the door of the room they’d taken shelter in. “You two about ready? I’d rather nobody figure out we’ve isolated ourselves.”

“Yeah, just give me—there. You’re good, Natasha.”

“Great. Let’s get back out there; I have an asshole to shoot in the face for hitting me.”

“There’s the Romanoff we know and love.”

“Shove it, Barnes.”

Slowly they made their way through the base, occasionally splitting up to search the floor for any stragglers, before meeting back up in the staircase where they moved on to the next. The deeper down they went however, the more agents they came across. “ _Looks like they’ve got a room full of hostages locked up in the med bay._ ” Bucky called through their coms. “ _Should I intercept?_ ”

“If you can do it safely, yes. Natasha and I will be there to assist in ten.”

Just as they made to join Bucky on the other side of the floor however, Steve spotted the glint of a gun barrel lifting from the doorway just to Natasha’s right. Knowing he didn’t have time to verbally warn her, he slammed into the back of her, their bodies hitting the floor just as shots rang out through the hall. She fired back as soon as they came to a stop on the carpet, Steve desperately ignoring the ringing in his ears as he threw his shield at the incoming team of five heading down the hall towards them. “Are you hit? Rogers, are you hit!?”

“M’fine,” Steve tried to shake the piercing noise from his ears. God, you’d think his stupid body would be use to the sound of close-range gunshots. It wasn’t until the ringing dulled that he began to feel the throb of pain across the back of his shoulders. “I think I got grazed, but nothing serious.”

“ _Are you guys alright?_ ”

“We’re good. Heading to your position now.”

Natasha helped Steve back to his feet before they weaved their way through the maze of hallways to where Bucky had already released the room of hostages. When they approached, they found him talking to a pale man in a lab coat. Judging by his badge, his name was Carl. Despite the current situation, Steve couldn’t help but wonder if he was anything like the young man from the show Sam insisted they watch; poor kid was bound to be eaten by zombies if he didn’t stay in the damn house. “You’re sure? How long ago?”

“Of course I am sure,” the man, Carl, scoffed. “They left maybe five minutes before you arrived. All I could hear through the bustle of them stuffing us into this room, was how they were going to deliver the files and then return later for the remaining agents they left behind.”

“Do you know where they downloaded these files from?” Natasha questioned.

“This is a communication hub, Widow. They literally could have retrieved it from any main system we have,” Carl rolled his eyes. Steve suddenly had the urge to punch him in the nose. Judging by the way Natasha was flexing her hands, so did she. “Is that all? Because I have a job I need to get back to.”

“We are currently evacuating you and your coworkers out to the front entrance until we can secure the building,” Steve explained. The man looked irritated by that information, but obediently wandered after the last few workers heading outside. “Well he was a joy, wasn’t he?”

“Come on. We’ve only got one more floor beneath us and then we can get the fuck out of here.”

“Once we clear the building, I’ll try going through one of the computers to see what they swiped,” Natasha explained. “Let’s just hope I can find what they downloaded without needing the exact computer they’d gone through.”

“We’ll worry about that when we get there.”

Fortunately, the remaining HYDRA agents weren’t much of a fight. They’d barely been able to remove their weapons before they were taken out, Romanoff keeping the last alive to interrogate back at complex. “I figured Rune could use the practice. See if she still has her gift or not.”

“Aw,” Bucky cooed. “That’s really sweet, Romanoff. In a completely fucked up way, but still sweet.”

“Why thank you! I thought so too.”

Steve couldn’t help the fond shake of his head. “Ok, you two. Let’s finish up the search and clean up here so we can get back home. As much as I trust Sam, I know he has no chance of keeping Rune out of trouble.”

It took them another hour, and a failed search attempt on Natasha’s end, before they were finally able to return back to base. Not that Steve was complaining; the humidity in Miami was atrocious this time of year, and a cold shower sounded fucking heavenly right now. Judging by the sweat sticking Bucky’s tactical suit to his skin, he agreed. After that, they’d hit the commissary, possibly catch a movie at Sam’s, and then crash for the night. Like everything in Steve’s life though, nothing ever goes according to plan. As soon as they made it through the main doors they could hear yelling coming from the main hallway. He easily recognized it as one of Team Echo’s members. “Is that Jason?” Bucky questioned.

“Yeah,” Natasha nodded. “Who knows what set that wire-thin temper of his off this time.”

“We better check it out, come on.”

They quickly pushed through the entrance before weaving through the rapidly growing crowd. The closer they got to the arguing voices, the clearer the conversation became. “—let her still walk around! She should be in chains!”

“Because my hands are tied,” Hill grunted, exasperated. “There’s no case here. Hasn’t been since she died.”

“Seems like she’s breathing just fine to me, so obviously she ain’t dead! That monster should be fucking muzzled, Hill,” Jason spat. Instantly Steve’s heart dropped as his paced quickened; he didn’t need a name to know who he was referring to. “Do you have any idea what she’s done? What she’s done to our fellow agents?”

When they were finally able to push through to the front of the crowd they found Jason and a few other members of Team Echo facing off with Hill and Rune, who was standing a few feet away from the stand-in director. She looked calm though, her expression impassive as she watched the argument continue. It wasn’t until a few seconds later however that he noticed the bright cherry shining her cheek. Jesus, had Jason punched her? “Like I said, my hands are tied, Jason. There’s literally nothing I can hold her on. She’s a clone, essentially a clean slate, so everything the original Rune Crow did can’t be held on her anymore.”

“She’s a murderer!” Shannon, one of the other team members, cut in. “She should have been put down the same way Pierce and Brock were.”

Before Steve could grab him, Bucky was pushing out into the open, fury clear across his face. “What the fuck did you just say?”

Shannon and Jason’s eyes widened when they realized who it was; clearly they only started having this conversation with Hill because Bucky and Steve had been sent away on a mission. “Barnes—“

“No,” Bucky snapped when Shannon attempted to speak again, probably to defend them. “Who gave her the shiner, huh?”

“We—we didn’t—“

“Apparently, I had a hand in torturing Jason’s brother and witnessed Pierce kill Shannon’s mother,” Rune spoke up instead. Judging by the quiet gasps spread throughout the room, she’d been silent through the entire ordeal. “I believe they’re more angry about the fact I don’t _remember_ the acts than the acts themselves. Which I guess I can understand; I did do a lot of fucked up shit while under Pierce’s thumb and can’t remember half of it.”

“Yeah, and you did it to keep my ass alive,” Bucky snapped back. “It’s not like you were staying at the four fucking seasons either. He tortured you just as much as he did me!”

“Yet they like to remind me that my brain remained unscrambled,” she shrugged before turning her attention back to where Jason and Shannon were still glaring. “Look, do I take back what I did to your family? No. It kept Buck alive which is the entire reason I stayed behind and dealt with Pierce’s shit. Do I regret it though? Yes. I worked with SHIELD for two years, and in that time I met a lot of people with pure intentions to fight for the cause. And I believe your brother and mother were some of those agents.”

“We don’t want your apology, Crow.”

“Then don’t take it. Either way it doesn’t bring them back. You can hate me all you want, but unfortunately it doesn’t change anything I did or what happened to them,” she continued. How was she still so calm? Then again, working through HYDRA taught you a lot of ways to mask your true emotions. Who knew what she was really feeling right now? “I’m not going anywhere. I might not be Bucky’s handler anymore, but he is still the only family I have, which means I ain’t going anywhere. So, unless the director of this place finds some way to kick me out, you better get used to seeing my murdering face around here. That goes for the rest of you lot, too. Next person to blindside me with a sock to the jaw isn’t going to walk away from it.”

With that she turned on her heel and left, the crowd immediately parting to allow her through. Steve hesitated to follow her, his eyes glued to Bucky who was still watching after her. A few tense seconds of silence passed before he finally spoke. “Is this what you say about me when I ain’t around to hear it?”

Jason and Shannon’s eyes widened again. “No! Of course not, but you had no choice in what they made you do. She was still lucid when given her orders.”

Slowly Bucky turned to them, the same unreadable expression that’d been on Rune’s face now adorning his. “I killed her parents, did you know that? Killed them both right in front of her when she was six years old.”

Another gasp elicited through the crowd, Steve’s heart panging sharply as he took a small step towards him. “Buck.”

“No, Steve, they need to hear this. When Rune became my handler she had every chance to blow my brains out for what I did to her and her family, but she never did. Why? Because she forgave me. That girl is the only reason I am standing here right now, alive and as a free man,” he growled low, eyes damn near blazing. “Most of you stood in support of my freedom, but it was her hard work that gained it in the first place. Yeah, she did some fucked up things during her time with HYDRA, but all of it was to keep me alive and protected. You ain’t gotta like her, you just gotta keep your fucking opinions to yourself about her, because I swear to God the next person to even look at her wrong, let alone touch her, is going to have to answer to me.”

“To all of us,” Steve added sharply, Natasha nodding in agreement. “Rune is a free woman, and despite her past, nothing any of you do or say will change that. Hitting her like you did could have automatically sent you into holding, you know that?”

“She didn’t want to pursue anything though,” Hill backed up. “Even though I think you lot would have deserved it. Now, everyone break off and get back to work. Shows over.”

Once the crowd began to disperse, Steve finally approached Bucky. “Hey, you ok?”

Even despite the fact he was clearly drawn as tight as a God damn bow, he nodded. “M’fine, but I’m worried about Rune. I need to find her.”

Steve glanced over to where Natasha was talking to Hill and nodded. “Go. Natasha and I can handle the debrief with Hill on our own.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, we’ve got this. You go make sure she’s alright; we both know she isn’t as calm as she looked.”

“Thanks, Stevie,” Bucky offered a small smile before chastely kissing him. “I’ll meet you afterwards, ok?”

“See you then.”

Steve waited until he disappeared around the corner before turning back to Hill and Natasha, only to find them both watching him. “Are they going to be ok?”

“They’ve come back from worse, so I think they’ll be fine. Knowing Rune though, Buck will be the only one to get through to her right now.”

“Yeah, can’t say I’m surprised. I was expecting things to hit the fan quick when I saw Jason clock her in the face. Rune didn’t react though; she basically just stood there and took it,” Hill shook her head. “It’s more restraint than I would have shown him, guarantee that.”

“Unfortunately nobody is going to be as forgiving towards Rune as they were Barnes. I mean, you saw how the world reacted to her after his trial.”

“Not good,” Steve sighed with a nod. “Right now, we have more important things to worry about. Like finding out what files HYDRA stole and why.”

Later, after a long and winding dead-end of a debrief, Steve made his way back towards the apartments. If Bucky and Rune weren’t there, he’d quickly dress down out of his suit before heading out to find them. As he neared their apartment door however, his sensitive ears twitched at the sound of voices coming from inside. “Stop saying that.”

That was definitely Bucky’s voice, frustration thick in his tone. Rune however sounded even more resigned than she had earlier. “Keeping silent doesn’t change the fact I’m a murderer, Buck. Clone or not, I still did those things. And next time, it won’t just be a fist to the face, either. A lot of people want me dead, and a large majority probably live here at the complex.”

“Nobody would—“

“Jason punched me. Blindsided me as I was coming from the commissary to meet Hill. If he has the balls to smack me in public, in front of a majority of his peers, who would hesitate pulling a gun on me next?” she pressed. Bucky obviously couldn’t come up with a good enough answer if his silence said anything. “Fighting won’t make this better, that’s why I didn’t retaliate and remove his head from his spine. As much as I want to stand up on my soapbox and defend my way of life for the thirty-eight years that I remember, it won’t change anything. People are still going to try and murder me, especially once they find out I ain’t spending any prison time for my work beneath Pierce.”

“This isn’t fair. Everything you did was to protect me.”

“Yeah, well, most people think chivalry is dead, so—“she chuckled. It died almost as quickly as it’d come though. “Sorry this is adding even more stress to your lives. I know things literally just settled down for you lot.”

Thankfully Bucky said exactly what Steve was thinking in response to that. “Don’t you dare start apologizing. Clone or not, you are _alive_ , Rune. You have no idea the whirlwind I felt after Pierce and Rumlow told me they killed you. For once in my life I actually welcomed the chair when they threw me into it.”

“Buck.”

“It hurt worse when I found out you hadn’t died at all, and instead had rotted in the pit for two years while I galivanted across the globe. I swear if I’d known you were alive, I’d have broken you out. You know that right?”

“Of course I do, but I also knew there was no way in hell Pierce would have let that information get to you. All I could do was hope and pray you survived Project Insight long enough for me to break myself out and help you.”

“I thought Steve was lying when he told me you were the one who helped them get the files out. That you’d been working on this ten-year plan just to help set me free.”

“I don’t regret it. I might just be a clone of myself, but I am still me, and I know that sacrificing my life to give you back yours was worth it.”

Steve could hear Bucky stand from the kitchen table, heavy boots walking across the floor to wherever Rune was standing. “Don’t make a habit of that, ok? Losing you—losing you for real hurt more than I will ever be able to explain to you. You were the one thing that kept my head above water for twenty plus years, Rune, and having you ripped away like you were still hurts, even now. Hell, sometimes I look at you and can’t believe you’re actually real.”

“I ain’t a hallucination. I have to keep proving it to Steve every so often by pinching him.”

“You know about Steve’s hallucinations of you?” Bucky gasped, Steve’s heart ramming into his ribs. How did she find out about that? “How?”

“Educated guess. It’s the way he looks at me sometimes, like he’s trying not to draw attention to the fact he can see me. Other times he has to touch me, subtly of course, just to make sure I’m real. I don’t think he realizes he does any of it, but I put the pieces together pretty quick.”

“Your hallucination helped him through a lot, but I think it’s something you should talk to him about,” Bucky suggested. Right or wrong, Steve wasn’t sure it was a conversation he’d be able to survive. “Might help him more than he thinks it would.”

“I will. Speaking of, where is Captain Martyr?”

Right. He should probably stop creeping in the hallway eavesdropping on everyone. That would be an embarrassing thing to have to explain off if someone came down the hallway. “Hopefully he’ll be done with the debrief soo—“Steve pretended to shove his key into the lock of the handle before pushing the door open, feigning nonchalance. “There he is!”

“Hey,” Steve offered a smile. “Sorry I’m late. We kept hitting dead ends when we tried to track what files HYDRA took from the base.”

“Shit. They still couldn’t track it through the system?”

Steve shook his head as he locked the door and tossed his keys into the bowl. “No. Natasha tried every trick in the book but still came up empty handed.”

“Where was the base again?” Rune queried.

“Miami. It was tucked away in—“

“In a cove?”

Both Bucky and Steve blinked at her in surprise. “Yes? How did you know that?”

“Because that building used to belong to HYDRA. Must have switched hands after SHIELD rebuilt itself.”

“Are you serious? Why weren’t we informed of that?” Bucky demanded.

“Probably because it’s happened with a lot of SHIELD’s newest headquarters and bases,” Rune explained. “HYDRA might be full of assholes, but they do know how to build sturdy hideouts.”

“Have you been to this certain base before?”

“A few times, yeah. Basically used for the same thing SHIELD uses it for now.”

“So as a communication hub,” Steve reiterated. “Would you maybe know something Natasha didn’t about the files downloaded—“

“They wouldn’t have been downloaded.”

“Excuse me?” Steve’s brows furrowed, Bucky wearing a matching look. “What do you mean by that?”

Rune glanced at them incredulously. “Didn’t you find the file room?”

“File room?”

“The one tucked away in the basement. It’s behind the wall of old computer monitors.”

“No, we didn’t find any stupid file room! Why the hell would they have a secret file room?”

“Paper files are easier to erase and harder to copy considering they aren’t attached to a hard drive. They usually keep their most important files behind lock and key, though usually Pierce was the only one with said key, so many of them didn’t see the light of day.”

“My file was on a hard drive.”

“It was paper first before it was transferred to a computer,” she reminded him with a roll of her eyes. “Where it was then weaponized with a God damn bomb to keep it protected.”

“Right, moving on,” Bucky sharply diverted back. “How many files were kept there?”

“Not too many. A lot were destroyed as a fail-safe before Project Insight.”

“We need to inform Hill and have her send a team to retrieve whatever files are left.”

“Since I ain’t been cleared for missions yet, I can write down instructions on exactly where the door is if that’ll help.”

“I think she’ll appreciate it. Thank-you, Rune.”

Rune retired to her room shortly after that; she figured skipping dinner would be best considering the earlier events. Not that either of them could blame her. After talking to Hill about their newest discovery they wandered into the commissary where they found Natasha, Sam, and Wanda sitting at the table. Wanda almost instantly stood as soon as she saw them. “Is she alright?”

“You two were supposed to keep an eye on her,” Bucky reminded them maybe a little too harshly. Steve couldn’t help but agree though. “Want to explain to me how Jason blind-sided her?”

“Team Echo asked for our assistance during training today,” Wanda frowned as her eyes dropped down to the table. “We should have known it was a diversion, but we thought it was an innocent plea for help.”

“We didn’t even hear about the incident until Jason and Shannon came back to the training room to tell the rest of the team,” Sam added with a shake of his head. “As soon as he blurted out that he hit her, Wanda nearly ripped him apart.”

“He deserved worse, but Sam stopped me. Is she alright? I can’t imagine the things that were said to her.”

With a heavy sigh, Bucky nodded. “She says she’s fine but it doesn’t dismiss what Jason did. We’ve got to keep an eye on her more closely; if Jason had the guts to clock her, who knows what someone else will try.”

“You really think someone would try something worse?” Sam asked, voice wavering slightly.

“People will do a lot of things for vengeance, Sam. I mean, look at how T’Challa acted after his father’s death. He literally chased Buck across the world.”

Sam almost instantly puffed up defensively. “But after the king learned Bucky was innocent, he reconciled for everything he did!”

“Yeah, but Rune ain’t innocent in the things she’s being accused of,” Bucky reminded him placatingly. “And she isn’t afraid of admitting it when confronted, either.”

“Alright. Alright,” Sam took a deep breath in, his hands flexing briefly. “Let’s make a pact now that, whenever that girl is out of her apartment, one of us is right behind her. I feel like shit about what happened today, and I’d rather nothing else happened just because we weren’t there for her.”

“Agreed.”

After dinner, Bucky and Steve slowly made their way back up to their room, Steve already damn near half-asleep. “I feel like I could crash for a week.”

“Seriously,” Steve yawned as he tucked his head into Bucky’s shoulder. “Think we can sleep in tomorrow?”

“Only thing we’ve got to worry about is our meeting with Fury tomorrow.”

“It’s going to be interesting introducing him to Rune. Do you think they’ve met before?”

“I know Pierce was involved with her recruiting, but I don’t know if Fury was. Even if they had met it was so long ago I doubt he ever remembered meeting her,” Bucky pointed out. “He doesn’t seem to have any kind of reaction whenever we mention her name, and he sure as hell had nothing to say about her during the trial.”

“Yeah, true point. Either way he’ll warm up to her, just like he warmed up to you even after you shot him. Through a wall, none the less.”

“I was the best shot HYDRA had, of course I could land a hit through a wall.”

“Heat signature?”

Bucky was silent for a long while before giving in with a long sigh. “They were programmed into my goggles.”

“Knew it,” Steve beamed before falling into another yawn. “Are we almost to our room yet?”

“We ain’t even to our apartment yet, Stevie.”

Steve sighed as he closed his eyes, trusting Bucky not to run him into a wall. After a few seconds though, a gentle smile pulled across his face. “Hey, Buck?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember when we visited the flowers back in Wakanda for the first time?”

“Before or after we were ambushed by HYDRA?”

“Before, obviously. While we were laying there in the flowers, you said that you’d imagined us getting a place of our own together. One in a field of flowers out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Ah,” he could feel Bucky smile against his temple, “you mean our converted barn?”

“Yeah. The one with the massive kitchen and my own art studio.”

“What brought that little memory up?”

Slowly Steve pulled him to a stop before turning them until they were face to face, both of their hands interlacing. “We’ve been free for about a year now. We’re finally back in the states and back with our friends again.”

“And?”

“Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate everything Stark has done for us, especially letting us crash here at the complex after we returned from Wakanda.”

“But?”

“But, we both know this ain’t our home,” he whispered, bringing them impossibly closer so they were forehead to forehead. “I want a place of our own, Buck. One that is ours and ours alone. A place without paper thin walls, a stove that works, a bath that isn’t communal, and—“

“And nothing like our apartment back in Brooklynn.”

“Exactly. As much as I love living here with our friends, this isn’t my home. Not anymore. A place where it’s just you and me—that is where I want my home to be.”

Bucky took a deep breath as his eyes fluttered closed, his grip tightening around Steve’s fingers. “Just us.”

“Always us,” Steve promised with a chaste kiss. “So, what do you say? Want to start looking for a place with me?”

“Hmm,” Bucky pretended to ponder, his eyes staring up at the ceiling as he attempted to make up his mind. Steve was not amused. “I don’t know. I mean, you snore, you always somehow drool on my pillow—“

“Do not!”

“—and I have a few bruises from where your serum-strength-ass has kicked me in the shin.”

Steve glared at him half-heartedly. “Buck.”

“I’m just kidding. Of course I want to find a place with you,” he chuckled before kissing him a few more times. “I still can’t believe it sometimes. After almost a century here we are, in a world where we can kiss, and hold hands, and buy a fucking house together, and nobody can do shit about it.”

“I love you, Buck.”

“I love you too, Steve. Now come on, we both desperately need a shower and I’ve been dying to get my mouth on you all day.”

“Oh really?” Steve grinned as he let Bucky continue to drag him down the hall. “The suit still does it for you, huh?”

“It’s done it for me since the day you rescued me and the rest of the 107th basically wearing pajamas.”

“They weren’t pajamas!”

“Uh huh, keeping telling yourself that, Stevie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Russian]  
> Котёнок - kitten


	5. Chapter 5

Steve woke up to screaming.

As soon as he snapped back to consciousness he knew it was coming from the other side of the bed. Bucky was thrashing, his arms and legs tangled in the sheets, his hair clinging to the cold sweat smeared across his skin. Instantly he planted a hand onto the mattress next to his head, the other hovering to touch as soon as he was able to wake him up. “Bucky! Come on, Buck, wake up,” he coaxed as loudly as he dared. As much as he wanted to grab and shake him, he knew that would only make the situation worse. Bucky had to come out of it on his own. “Wake up, Buck. It’s just a nightmare, wake up!”

At that final yell Bucky’s eyes snapped open, instantly locking onto Steve. They took a moment to dilate but thankfully never left his face. “S-Steve?”

“Yeah,” he offered a smile. “You with me?”

“I—I don’t—“

“What year is it, Buck?”

After taking a hesitant glance around the room, his chest still heaving, he turned his attention back to Steve. “2017.”

“And where are we? Be specific for me.”

“A-Avengers complex, New York. Sam is down the hall, Rune across the way, and Wanda, Vision, and Natasha beneath us.”

“Good job. Is it ok to touch you now?”

“Please,” Bucky nearly whimpered. Steve immediately scooped him up, Bucky shifting until he was able to curl up in his lap and shove his face into his neck. “God, it was fucking awful, Stevie.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Bucky was silent for a few seconds, his arms tightening where they were wrapped around his ribs. “We’d switched places. We were on that stupid fucking bridge again, but this time _I_ was fighting the Winter Soldier. The fight was the same, shield and everything, only this time—this time I got the upper hand. Remember when you slammed me into that Bronco?” he questioned, Steve briefly nodding despite the dread building in his chest. “Yeah, well, as soon as I charged them, I hit ‘em hard enough to snap their neck. Natasha was hurt, so I had no intentions of wasting anymore time, but I couldn’t turn away. Something was nagging at me, screaming at me, to remove the mask. And as soon as I did I realized—fuck, you were _dead_ , Steve. As soon as I realized what I’d done, who I’d killed, I just—I just started screaming.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Steve reassured him as he kissed his head. “It wasn’t real. I’m right here, alive and breathing.”

“I know you are, it just felt so—it was too much. Your eyes were fucking lifeless as they stared up at me and—Christ,” Bucky hissed as he pulled Steve even closer against him. Steve let him cling, his fingers trailing up and down his spine and through his hair in an attempt to calm him. After a few seconds, the air less tense around them, Bucky found his voice again. “You looked awful with a metal arm, by the way.”

Steve couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out. “I couldn’t pull it off, huh?”

“Nah. You don’t have the bad boy aura to rock it,” he grinned against his skin, his metal arm whirring in response. “God, you have no idea how glad I am you didn’t fall off the train with me. I can’t even imagine where you’d be right now.”

“I’m hard to hold on to. I’m pretty sure I’d have busted us out within a few days,” Steve attempted to tease back. “Either way, like you said yesterday, we ended up here together. In a time where we can love each other freely.”

“I do like kissing you in front of people.”

“You just like showing me off.”

“Well, can you blame me? This once trash-bag hobo found himself a God!”

Steve snorted as he rolled his eyes. “You were not a trash-bag hobo.”

“I dunno Steve. There were some sketchy days while I was on the run; I think I even managed to convince a few kids I was a sewer monster.”

“Yeah, well, now you’re back to your own Godly self.”

“Fuck yes I am,” Bucky grinned before nuzzling his skin. “Love you, Stevie.”

“I love you too,” he lifted his face to kiss him, both of them sighing into the contact. When they eventually pulled away, Steve ran his knuckles down his cheek. “Think you can go back to sleep?”

“Honestly? No.”

“Want some pancakes? Or waffles? We still have that Avengers waffle maker Stark got us for Christmas.”

“He thinks he’s hilarious with all of his Avenger memorabilia, doesn’t he?”

“Yes, but I do have to admit I adore you in that Captain America sweatshirt he got you.”

Bucky raised his brow as Steve pulled him standing. “Oh really?”

“Yup. When you add those bunny slippers Natasha got you, that whole assassin rep goes down the drain, and instead you just look like a cuddly homeless man.”

“I do not!” Bucky gasped in mock horror as he followed him down the hallway. “I am a terrifying soldier. Even if those slippers are the most comfortable thing I’ve ever worn.”

Steve grinned even wider. “Sap.”

Bucky slid his arms around his waist once they entered the kitchen and kissed the base of his neck. “Only for you, babydoll.”

After inhaling enough waffles to feed an army or two, they settled on the couch to finish the fourth season of that zombie show. Things were starting to get weird and he needed answers, dammit. Like who was feeding the zombies rats? How many more people were going to get sick and die? Too many, that’s what. Just as they started the episode before the season finale, however, Bucky’s phone chimed. “Whoever that is, it better be important.”

“Right? We gotta find out who— _shit_ ,” Bucky cursed, instantly on his feet. “We need to go.”

“Go? What’s happened?”

“Rune’s down in the med-wing. Wanda says we need to get down there ASAP. And she used a lot of exclamation marks, along with I think—is that a dead-smiley emoji?”

“Or the one with a ghost flying out of its mouth. Either way, let’s go.”

The nurses pointed Steve and Bucky in the direction of where they were taking care of Rune. Sure enough, when they burst into room 113, they found Wanda and Dr. Cho both surrounding Rune. A wad of reddening tissues was pressed to her nose, her head tilted down towards her knees. “Rune!” Bucky exclaimed. “What the hell is going on?”

Rune instantly glared at Wanda. “I told you not to tell either of them.”

Wanda shrugged innocently. “I heard nothing of the sort.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Bucky interrupted the most likely continued argument. His attention turned to Dr. Cho instead. “Cho? Is she ok?”

“Now she is, yes,” she answered though her face was still twisted grimly. “Though uncommon this long after, nose bleeds are expected proceeding a defreezing process. My concern however lies in the color. Very thin, let alone yellow, blood coming from the nasal canals can indicate head trauma, and considering Rune is a clone whose files are still being deciphered, meaning I have yet to properly diagnose her, I am worried.”

“It’s slowed down since earlier,” Rune weakly defended herself.

“You have been in here for three hours and it has barely slowed,” Wanda snapped, patience completely worn thin. “If I had not sensed your distress, you would still be in your apartment dealing with this alone!”

“You didn’t tell anybody?” Bucky stared at her. “Were you just going to let yourself bleed out, or something?”

Rune’s glare hardened down at the floor. A few seconds later, she removed the tissue and tossed it into the already overflowing bin, blatantly ignoring when a trickle began to trail from her nose again. Steve’s stomach churned at the sight; had she really been bleeding all morning? “I am fine. I survived HYDRA’s bullshit so you know I can damn well handle a little bloody nose. Now—now, I need to go change before we meet with Director What’s-His-Face.”

With that she left, ignoring Bucky’s call out to her as she disappeared into the hallway. Steve gripped his shoulder when he made to chase after her, though. “Give her some time, Buck. Obviously she’s stressed about something.”

“I believe that is my fault,” Dr. Cho frowned.

“How? All you did was try and help her.”

“I left my tablet in view while I was taking in Wanda’s side of the story and she’d been able to read nearly everything on screen before I could stop her. I’d just received part of the translated HYDRA file they had on her cloning and, well—it explains part of her nosebleeds.”

“And what did it say?” Bucky questioned. “She seems freaked out about whatever she saw.”

“There were three stages to Rune’s creation. The first was incubation into the cryo tube and the second was growing from egg to adult. Both obviously successful. But the third—“

When she trailed off, Wanda sighed. “The third step hadn’t been activated yet.”

“Activated?” Steve stepped forward this time. “What does that mean?”

“We aren’t sure, and we won’t until the file is completely translated. From what I’ve been able to decipher myself, however, I believe it involved a memory wipe.” Both Steve and Bucky went stiff as they stared at her. Thankfully seeming to realize they’d been shocked into silence, she continued. “Some of the papers in her file are formulas I’ve seen in the leaked files of Barnes. More specifically, a chemical solution to fill in the—well, the patches of memory that’d been able to slip into his conscious despite all of the procedures in that abominable chair. It’s basically their solution to where they failed with brain-washing James.”

“That’s why Rune still remembers us,” Wanda simplified. “We got to her before HYDRA could finish their experiment.”

Steve could practically feel Bucky shaking against him, the metal arm whirling as his hands clenched into fists. “They couldn’t control the original Rune, so instead they tried to create their own. One who would bow to every fucking command dealt.”

“As much of a relief as it is that we were able to avoid the third stage, I am worried not reaching it stented the rest of her physical development.”

“The nosebleeds. Are you saying they have to do with her brain development?” Steve asked when Bucky couldn’t find his voice.

Dr. Cho was quiet for far too long before she eventually relented an answer. “I’d like to do more tests and have weekly, possibly daily, check-ups with her. I believe these nosebleeds are just the start towards—towards deterioration.”

“Jesus Christ,” Bucky hissed, roughly running his hands through his hair as he briefly paced the room. “So, basically, we could end up losing her again.”

“I cannot say for sure. Cloning is an unexplored topic that we still do not properly understand and Rune is the first success I have interacted with. Anything is possible at this point, both the best pros and the worst cons.”

Tense silence rang through the room, the feeling crawling under Steve’s skin. Could it be possible that Rune really was slipping away? No, he couldn’t think about that right now. “Thank you, Dr. Cho, for helping her. I know she can be stubborn and I have a feeling she put up a fight.”

“I am used to unruly patients, captain. But thank you for your concern,” she smiled before shutting her tablet down. “Please do try and convince her to allow me to evaluate her regularly.”

“Of course. I think we can come to some kind of compromise with her,” Wanda agreed, Steve nodding. “We will see you again soon.”

With that, Dr. Cho took her leave. Wanda hesitated, but when Steve motioned to the door with his chin, she nodded in understanding and followed after her. As soon as the door clicked closed, Steve turned his attention to a stalk-still Bucky. “Buck?” he called, voice barely a whisper. “Buck, say something.”

“We aren’t—“he swallowed thickly when the words refused to leave his throat. “We aren’t gonna let her die, are we? I don’t think I can go through that again.”

“Of course not. She might be stubborn, but I know we can convince her to see Dr. Cho. And if that doesn’t give us the results we need, then we’ll rip apart more bunkers to find the answers she can’t give us,” Steve stated. When Bucky still refused to lift his head, Steve ducked down to meet his eyes. “She’s going to be ok, Buck. All of us are going to make sure of it, I swear.”

Eventually Bucky gave in with a nod, a sigh slipping through as he let his head fall forward onto Steve’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

Rune’s door was firmly shut when they made it back to their apartment to change, a clear signal that now was not a good time to try and get her to talk. So, instead, they showered and readied their training gear. “Buck? What time is our meeting?”

“In an hour? Maybe an hour and a half. Fuck if I remember,” Buck pondered as he rummaged for a fresh pair of boxer-briefs. “Why?”

Steve responded by turning Bucky around to face him and grabbing him beneath the thighs, instantly hoisting him off of his feet. Bucky yelped, very manly if you ever asked, before clinging to him to catch his balance. “Let’s get rid of this,” Steve glared at the towel still somehow clinging to his hips. With one twist of his wrist he was able to rip it free and deposit it onto the floor. “Much better.”

“Steve, what the hell—“but Steve cut him off by dropping him onto the bed. He bounced briefly, his metal hand instinctively lifting to grasp the headboard in an attempt to keep himself upright. “Easy! I am a delicate flower, remember?”

“Uh huh, keep trying to tell yourself that,” Steve rolled his eyes as he dropped his own towel and crawled up onto the bed. “You just sit there and relax.”

“Sit here and do what exactly?” Steve kissed him, Bucky’s grin widening into the contact as he ran his free hand through his hair. “Oh, does my babydoll have a plan to cheer me up?”

“Maybe. Is that alright with you?”

Bucky tightened his grip, fingers digging through blonde locks, and immediately earning him a low moan. “Anything involving you naked is alright with me.”

Taking that as his go ahead, Steve gave him one last kiss before shifting to nibble at his jaw, his lips beginning to drag down his neck. Bucky’s breath began to go ragged the lower he went and damn near stopped when Steve clamped over his right nipple. After a few minutes of toying with the nub, Bucky’s fingers tightened again, trying to coax him lower. Obediently Steve dipped down to lick at the rows of sculpted abs, his nose running through the happy trail of dark hair before finally bumping the rapidly hardening flesh resting below. Unfortunately, Steve knew he didn’t have enough time to enjoy the following act as much as he’d like to, so he quickly set to work. As soon as his fingers worked around the base he lapped his tongue up the shaft, his moan nearly mimicking Bucky’s above him. After dipping into the slit at the tip, there was no preamble in the way he swallowed him down, nearly taking it completely down his throat. He choked briefly, muffling it with the pleased groan that surged through him, before beginning to bob his head. “Christ, look at you,” Bucky gasped, hand continuing to flex through Steve’s hair encouragingly. “You’re always gagging for my cock, aren’t you babydoll? Pretty sure you’d get on your knees for me whenever, or wherever, I asked, wouldn’t you?”

Steve _whined_ , the words instantly going to the already hard length hanging neglected between his legs. It spurred him to go faster, taking Bucky as deep as his body would allow him too. At one point he simply held himself there, nose pressed to the curled hair at the base while the soft flesh sank fully into him, his senses sparking with an almost overwhelming sensation. It was Bucky who eventually pulled him off, keeping his head tilted away once he was finally seperated. He whimpered at the loss, tongue lapping out at the string of saliva and precoma that was keeping his lips connected to Bucky’s cock. “Please, Buck. Don’t make me stop,” he panted through the growing haze in his head, though not daring to force himself free. “Use me. Please, please, please, use me however you want.”

Bucky didn’t respond right away, his metal hand releasing the headboard to reach forward and run over his probably swollen and red bottom lip. Just when Steve thought the electric-filled silence would kill him, Bucky retracted his hand. “Two taps to the hip if you can’t speak, remember?”

“Yes, yes!” Steve whined again, allowing his body a feeble attempt to squirm out of his iron-tight grip.

“And what’s our safety word?”

“Bucky, _please_.”

“That’s not an answer, Steve,” Bucky scolded as he lifted him until they were eye to eye, giving Steve something else to focus on. “What is our safe word?”

Shit, what was it? Considering the fact all Steve could think about right now was getting Bucky back down his throat, it was hard getting his brain somewhat lucid enough to answer correctly. Eventually a word began to force through the haze. “Valkyrie.”

“Good boy,” Bucky leaned forward to kiss him, Steve taking the reward greedily. “I’m gonna take care of you, alright?”

“I trust you.”

Slowly Bucky used the hand at the back of his head to lead him down again. “Take it slow, babydoll.”

Steve nodded before taking the tip into his mouth, suckling gently. After laving attention over it for a few seconds he slipped the rest into his mouth. He moved up and down the shaft occasionally, but mostly practiced just holding him as deep as possible. A few minutes passed, Bucky whispering encouraging remarks as he rolled his hips to push himself deeper, before Steve felt a metallic tap against his side. “Ass in the air, Stevie.” With a tilt of his hips he obeyed, moaning when Bucky trailed the same hand down his spine and over his right cheek. The slap to the ass was a surprise, but not an unwelcomed one, if the spark to his dick said anything. “God, look at you, absolutely perfect on your knees like this. Can’t wait until the day I finally get to fuck you nice and proper. Would you like that? Of course you would. You’ve been practically begging me to put my cock in you since we returned home to the states.”

Steve had to pull off, gasping in air as he let his forehead fall to Bucky’s stomach. “Fuck, yes.”

“If I had the time, I’d take you right now, trust me. I want nothing more than to finally pop that century old cherry of yours,” Bucky exhaled sharply. At the feeling of his metal hand dipping between his cheeks, Steve sucked Bucky back between his lips and set a fast, almost desperate, pace. “I can’t wait to see how much abuse this hole can take.”

When Bucky began to fuck his hips into Steve’s face, he could feel his orgasm building. Fuck, was he going to come untouched again? His answer came when Bucky dipped his index finger passed Steve’s rim, the dry stretch just enough to push him over the edge. He swallowed Buck down to stifle his own groan, his nose practically digging into his stomach as his hips bucked against the air and back onto the metal digit desperately. Bucky rolled his hips once, twice more before he was coming down his throat. Steve lingered, letting the feeling overwhelm him. Eventually the need to breath won out, and he reluctantly pulled back, taking in a sharp gasp of air as he collapsed against Bucky’s side. Bucky immediately pushed himself down the bed until he could gather Steve fully into his arms and pepper his face with kisses. “Hi,” Steve managed an exhausted smile.

“You’re perfect, I ever tell you that?”

“Once or twice.”

“Well, I need to do it more often,” Bucky chuckled softly. Steve let the next kiss linger for a few seconds before he pulled away to shove his face into his neck. “Why don’t you crash for thirty? I’ll wake you up before we have to head out for the meeting.”

“You sure?” Steve yawned despite the fact he was fading fast. “I can stay awake.”

“Go to sleep, ya mook.” 

“Love you, Buck.”

“Love you most, Stevie.”

Just as he’d promised, Bucky roused Steve awake again thirty minutes later. It took a little more effort to actually coax him out of bed and into his training gear, but like the dedicated boyfriend he was, he managed. Just as Steve wrangled his tousled hair back into check, there came a knock at the door. “It’s open!” Bucky hollered.

A few seconds later, Rune appeared in the doorway. She’d changed out of her bloodied pajama top in exchange for a pair of yoga pants and a tank. “You two about ready for this thing?”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Are you?”

She shrugged. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

As they filed out of the apartment and into the hallway however, Bucky gently grasped her bicep to hold her back. “How are you feeling?”

Unsurprising, Rune hesitated to answer. “I’m fine. Sorry for—you know, snapping at you earlier. Finding out your cloned body could be deteriorating is a lot to take in.”

“We’re going to figure this out,” Bucky promised her. “You just gotta let us help, as hard as that is for you.”

“Yeah, I know,” she managed a more genuine smile. “Thank you.”

As they turned the corner they found Natasha waiting for them, her arms loosely crossed. “Why good morning, you three. I heard you’ve had quite the eventful day already.”

“Yeah if you count bloody noses and nightmares a good time,” Steve snorted. “How has your morning been going?”

“The usual,” she shrugged, seeming to catch onto the tension of the conversation and choosing to divert. She probably had the whole story from Dr. Cho by now anyway. “Ate a hardy breakfast and kicked Parker’s ass in training.”

“Is that the spider boy? The one who kicked Bucky and Sam’s asses during the airport fight?”

“The one and only.”

“He did not kick our asses.”

“Whatever you say, Barnes.”

“So,” Rune changed the subject before Bucky could try to defend himself further, “who’s this director we’re going to meet? All you’ve told me is that he’s a very busy man.”

“Because he is. Ever since SHIELD’s rise from the ashes, he’s been doing damage control on a lot of our branches and rebuilding a lot of bridges with allies. The last thing we need is another HYDRA uprising beneath our noses and he’s working his hardest to prevent that,” Natasha explained.

“Has he been with SHIELD long?”

Steve nodded as they climbed the stairs towards Fury’s office. “Longer than I’ve been awake, that’s for sure. I think he was even around for those few years you were officially with SHIELD.”

“Really? Dude must be old as dirt. What’s his name?”

“Nicholas Fury. I know you’ve heard his name from Pierce’s lips a few times,” Bucky filled in. When Rune came to a sudden stop, they frowned. “Rune? You alright?”

“Nick Fury is alive?”

Right. She knew Pierce had set up for Bucky to kill Fury, so logically she must have assumed he was successful with the hit. It probably should have been something they discussed while they were giving her highlights of what’s happened while she was asleep, but now was better than never. “Bucky shot him through the wall of my apartment after a failed attempted of assassinating him in the streets, but he ended up surviving both attempts.”

“Which I have apologized for since then, multiple times,” Bucky added quickly.

Almost as if on que, Fury and Hill rounded the far corner, their heads staring down at Hill’s tablet. Rune zeroed in on Fury instantly and, before they realized what was happening, began marching directly for him. Fury and Hill didn’t notice her until she made it about five feet in front of them, a look of pure shock flashing across Fury’s face.

And then Rune punched him across the jaw.

The sound of his body hitting the ground echoed through the silent hallway, all of them staring at her in disbelief. “Rune, what the fuck!?” Bucky exclaimed.

Rune ignored him, her chest heaving angrily as she glared down at the director. “You son of a bitch!”

“Crow, stand down,” Hill warned, fingers wrapped around the gun tucked into her waist. “Now.”

Rune, once again, ignored all of them, her attention tunneled on Fury. “If I’d known you’d survived Bucky’s hit, I’d have come for you sooner than this. Or did you hope I wouldn’t remember you when my cloning file crossed your desk?”

Steve might not have known what the hell was going on, but judging by the guilt slowly taking over his original shock, Fury did. “Rune—“

“No, don’t you dare _Rune_ me. Where were you, Nick? Where the fuck were you?” she seethed. “Your promise to keep your eye on me throughout my time with SHIELD was the only reason I officially joined when I was sixteen. You knew I was hesitant because of my gift and what HYDRA did to my parents, but you fucking promised nothing would happen. What ended up happening anyway, huh? _HUH?!?_ ”

“I didn’t know.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it! Pierce wanted me from the moment you introduced us. You didn’t find his obsessive interest in me suspicious at all? He questioned you damn near every day about my stats and progress and was practically down my neck every second I was in training. Every fucking mission I went on he was in my ear! Yet you never questioned it? Not even once?”

Slowly Fury returned to his feet, his jaw clenching as if to further steel himself. “He was my friend. I trusted him.”

Rune laughed, a cold shrill of a thing that sent uneasy chills through Steve’s spine. “Trusted him? He _sold_ me, Nick! Right beneath your God damn nose! And you didn’t even fact-check the bullshit story he gave you either! I mean, running away? Seriously? That’s the most bleak lie he could have come up with, and yet you still bought it! You didn’t—fuck, did you even look for me? Did you even try to confirm his story? Or did you just help him empty my room and wipe your hands of it?”

Steve’s heart sank even further when Fury refused to meet her eyes anymore. “I didn’t—I didn’t want proof that my suspicions were true. I knew his obsession over you was on the brink of inappropriate, but I never could have imagined he would do what he did. It was just easier to accept you’d run away than believe there was a chance he’d done something to you.”

“Fury,” Hill whispered, expressing all of their shock aloud.

Rune continued to stare him down, a million different emotions burning off of her as she clenched and unclenched her hands. “When I realized—when I realized you weren’t coming for me, that I’d basically been abandoned in HYDRA’s clutches for Pierce to do with as he pleased, I had all intentions of burning you all to the ground. You, Pierce, SHIELD, HYDRA—I was going to make sure you all incinerated in my hands and could never rise from the ashes I’d buried you in. I could have done it too, even if it killed me in the end, I was going to bring all of you down with me,” she smiled coldly, a stark contrast to the gentle smiles usually directed their way. Slowly however, the anger behind it finally began to chip away, a look of happy nostalgia taking over. “But then, I met someone who made me reconsider it all.”

Fury instantly knew who she was referring to. “Barnes.”

“He’s the only reason all of you are still alive right now, even despite the fact he shot your ass,” she added helpfully, digging a nail into the growing guilt he was hopefully already feeling. A stretch of uncomfortable silence passed as Rune seemed to try and steady herself, her deep breaths loud even in Steve’s own ears. “I can’t trust you, Nick; after everything that happened between you, me, and Pierce, I just _can’t_. But, as sick and twisted as it is, I forgive you. If you hadn’t left me to rot, I never would have met Bucky. Handler or not, he’s the only family I’ve got, and wherever he goes, I always follow. So, even if it means you’re going to be my director again, I am willing to help however I am allowed.”

“I can accept that,” Fury thankfully didn’t hesitate holding his hand out to her in agreement. “Welcome back to SHIELD, Rune.”

Rune sharply shook his hand before retracting it just as quickly and taking a large step away from him. Bucky took that as their que to approach and immediately walked up behind her, sealing them together back to chest, though didn’t make any other move to touch her. “So, should we get this debrief over with?” Steve asked, hoping to push this along.

“Yes,” Fury nodded. “I got most of the story from Hill after she interviewed you, but I’d like to hear it for myself. Afterwards, I believe it’s time we get answers on the mystery of Rune’s gift.”

“I’m assuming you have a lab rat for me to experiment on, then.”

“We brought one back with us yesterday,” Natasha answered. “I figured you could use the stress relief.”

Rune flashed her a genuine smile. “Thanks, Natalia.”

“Well then, follow me,” Fury motioned over his shoulder, Natasha and Hill on his heels.

Steve, Bucky, and Rune however, held back. “Rune?” Steve whispered. “Are you alright?”

“I should have known he wouldn’t die that easily,” Rune sighed. “He always was wilier than Pierce.”

“You never told me you were close with Fury.”

“It was a sore subject I wasn’t a fan of talking about. Sure, Pierce converted a lot of SHIELD members to HYDRA, and used his influence to sneak HYDRA members into SHIELD positions, but I was the only one he _sold_. I call it legal kidnapping, but that’s just me.”

“I’m sorry, Rune.”

Once again, she shrugged. “Hey, I got some of my pent-up anger out, at least. And, judging by what Talia said, I can vent out the rest on our surviving HYDRA member down in holding.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Gift or not, I can still kick your ass. It just makes life a little easier when they bend for you instead of you lifting a finger,” she grinned. At least she was coming around back to her usual self. “Anyway, we better get this meeting over with. As much of a relief as that was, Fury still isn’t my favorite person to be around at the moment.”

Bucky gently brushed his fingers through her hair and tucked it behind her ear. “You sure you’re going to be ok, котёнок?”

“Yeah,” she said with only slight hesitation, her hand reaching forward to clutch the hand dangling at his side. “I’ll get over it. It’s just been a rough morning, you know? Finding out you could be dying, and then seeing the man who basically let fall into HYDRA’s hands, takes a lot out of a clone.”

“Hey, like I said before, we’re going to help you however we can. I promise.”

“I know. Thank you,” she offered a smile before tugging on his hand. “Come on, the last thing I need is Hill hunting us down and dragging us back by our ears.”

“That’s terrifying,” Steve stared. “I’d like to avoid that. Please."

The meeting—though still tense and awkward at times—went smoothly. Steve could tell it was going to be a long while before Rune and Fury readjusted to each other, but at least they were willing to be cordial for the time being. After they finished their business, Hill led the group down to the holding cell where they’d been interrogating the HYDRA agent Natasha had dragged back to base. “Are you nervous?” Steve whispered as they entered the main room.

“I’ve used my gift more times than I can count. But I think—I’m not sure how good it’s going to feel if I call for it and it’s not there, you know?”

Bucky lightly kissed her head before squeezing where her hands were still death gripped around his metal one. “Honestly, I don’t think Pierce would have gone to all the effort he did to clone you if they couldn’t successfully recreate your gift.”

“Fingers crossed then.”

After a confirming nod from Fury, Rune followed Natasha into the interrogation room where a dark-skinned man was handcuffed to a metal table. He didn’t look in too bad of shape, despite the black eye Steve vaguely remembered Natasha giving him back at the SHIELD communication hub. “Hello again, Chester.”

“Chester?” Rune snorted. “That’s really your name?”

All she got for an answer was a sharp glare. “Since you have been the furthest from helpful, I decided to bring along a friend of mine. I don’t think you two have ever met, so I’ll make the introductions. Rune, meet Chester. Chester, meet Rune Crow. Codename, Will Bender.”

Almost instantly Chester’s eyes widened, his fingers clenching reflexively in his cuffs. “You’re—this is impossible. She’s dead!”

“Come on, did you really think the bender of wills could be killed that easily?” Rune fluttered her eyelashes tauntingly. “Of course not.”

“Since you know who she is, I’m going to repeat my questions from earlier again,” Natasha grinned wider than the cat who got the cream. “What files were you sent to retrieve?”

Despite the wide-eyed look he had glued to Rune, Chester still didn’t open his mouth. They waited a few more seconds though, giving him the benefit of the doubt, before Natasha gave in with a sigh and glanced up at Rune. “My turn?”

“Please. I’m bored with this one.”

Rune nodded. Before she spoke however, she turned back to the two-way mirror, directly where Bucky was standing behind the glass, and clamped her hands over her ears. Surprisingly Bucky obeyed, clasping both hands over his own ears and pressing his palms down roughly. Steve didn’t have time to question him though, for a second later her attention was right back on Chester and she was speaking in that tone that had Steve wanting to give her _everything_. “Chester, I need you to tell me what you were sent to extract from the communications bunker in Miami.”

Chester’s back went rim-rod straight, his eyes glossing over almost instantly. Welp, there was no doubt her gift was still strongly intact. “We were given orders to retrieve files on Project Resurrection.”

“Well, I’m assuming Project Resurrection involves my cloning,” Rune snorted at the very unoriginal name. “Did they need my file because they knew I’d been taken out of cryo?”

“All we were told is that we needed the three subject files associated with the project’s main information cache.”

Steve’s brows furrowed. “Three?”

Thankfully Rune seemed to catch that little slip too. “Wait, how many subjects were involved with the project?”

“Three.”

“There are more?” Steve gaped.

Bucky stared at him in confusion though kept his hands in place. Not wanting to risk whatever this was, he snatched a piece of paper from the scattered ones on the table behind them and scribbled out the information they’d just learned across it. As soon as he flashed it to Bucky, his jaw dropped. “What the fuck?”

“Do you know the subject names?” Rune continued her interrogation. “First? Last? Anything.”

“No,” Chester shook his head. “I wasn’t granted access to that classified information.”

“Where were those files being taken?” Rune pressed. Chester seemed to try and fight it, his words hesitating as his face screwed up with the effort, but Rune had no patience for his nonsense. “Answer me!”

“Nova Scotia!” Chester grit against what looked like physical pain. “Our current base is in Nova Scotia.”

“How? Didn’t Steve and I blow it up?”

“The bomb set off by Captain Rogers and you only destroyed the base’s interior. The structure itself remained intact and stable so our heads of operation hired workers to rebuild it back to its former glory. Construction completed only a few months ago.”

Steve’s heart sank. Here he’d hoped that place would forever stay in ruins. That base had been where it all started; where Rune had been ripped away from Bucky, and where Bucky had lost himself again before being plunged into Project Insight. At Bucky’s urgent look, Steve scribbled down _they repaired the Nova Scotia base_ before showing it to him. A flare of anger surged through Bucky as soon as he finished reading. “Seriously? Out of all the god damn bases _that’s_ the one they choose to bring back?”

“Nova Scotia is the base Pierce did his final touches on Project Insight, isn’t it?” Hill questioned.

“Yeah. Rune and I blew it up after retrieving her locket, but apparently HYDRA refused to let it stay buried.”

“Do you know if any of the subjects from Project Resurrection have awoken yet?”

“No. Again, my rank isn’t high enough for that information.”

“Thanks anyway, Chester,” Rune sighed. “Now, sleep.”

Chester instantly slumped over, cheek crashing into the metal table before he started snoring. “We need to get to Nova Scotia. Maybe we can stop them before they try and wake the other two subjects,” Natasha announced. When they finally stepped from the interrogation room, Rune gave Bucky a small nod, an obvious signal that it was ok to drop his hands. “What was that about?”

“Because of the damage done from years upon years of torture, Bucky’s brain is susceptible to my gift even if it’s not directed at him. Multiple times I’ve caught him fighting off the urge to obey what I was saying at the time, but it took me too long to figure out what exactly was going on,” she explained with a small frown. “If HYDRA was ever around I used to sneak him a pair of ear plugs, that way it was a little less conspicuous. I guess, after all that time healing in Wakanda, he should be fine around my gift now, but I didn’t want to risk it.”

“As sweet as that is, we need to get more information on that Nova Scotia base,” Hill cut into the moment. “If there really are two more cloning subjects of Project Resurrection, we need to intervene before they can wake either of them up.”

“Agreed. Barnes, Crow, you two know that base better than any of us so I need you two as lead. Once we secure an attack plan, I want Rogers, Romanoff, Maximoff, Falcon, and Vision in with you. Possibly Stark if we can get a hold of him. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Captain my Captain,” Rune saluted. “Wait, who the hell is Vision?”

“You haven’t met ex-Jarvis?” Natasha gasped. “I know what we’re doing next!”

Rune’s eyes widened as she flailed her hand out to grasp Bucky’s shirt. “Do I want to go with her, Buck?”

“Vision isn’t that bad,” he chuckled before lightly patting her hand. “Just takes a little while to get used to his purple skin.”

“Is the dude like Barney or something?”

“I hope not. We’re already dealing with clones here; we don’t need Barney coming to haunt us from our nightmares,” Hill grumbled.

“Who do you think they cloned?” Natasha pondered, the subject change nearly giving Steve whiplash. Who the hell was Barney anyway? “Could have been a variety of different people. HYDRA was full of psychos.”

Steve immediately locked eyes with Bucky who frowned with a small nod. “Pierce. He’s the most obvious choice.”

“Shit,” Hill grunted. “I do not want to deal with that asshole again.”

“Tell me about it,” Rune, Bucky, and Steve sighed at the same time.

“Well, then we need to make sure we stop HYDRA from waking him up,” Fury answered matter-of-factly. “Rune, is there anyway a cryo tube could have survived the blast from the bomb you and Rogers set off?”

She shared a glance with Bucky before they both shrugged. “Pierce’s egotistical self would have wanted to make sure his clone, above all, was protected just in case he didn’t make it out of Project Insight’s launch. If his chamber is in Nova Scotia, then there’s a high chance it would have survived even a nuclear war.”

“It would explain why they took the chance of restoring the base instead of just leaving it to Mother Nature,” Natasha agreed. “Do you think the other subject is there too?”

“Doubtful,” Bucky shook his head. “Spreading them out to different safe houses lessened the risk of the entire project going down the drain.”

“Different continents considering we found Rune in Brazil,” Steve pointed out. “The last subject could be anywhere at this point.”

“What about Greenland?”

“You mean the pit?” Bucky reiterated Natasha’s question. “I guess it’s a possibility. When Rune escaped, she didn’t blow the place inside out like Nova Scotia.”

“No. Just committed mass murder.”

“Rune,” Steve lightly scolded her smile. “Behave.”

“Sorry, Cap,” she apologized, though it wasn’t very genuine. Not that Steve could blame her. “There are some nooks and crannies I remember of the place that could be secure enough to hide a cryo tube. Not sure why they didn’t just put my clone there considering they’d had me shackled in that damn place for two years.”

“Maybe to throw you off the scent? Who knows,” Natasha shrugged. “Either way, we need to find these remaining subjects and shut the project down.”

“Agreed. Come on, let’s get schematics of the bases and then go from there,” Hill suggested.

As she led them from the room, Steve held Bucky back, his fingers gripped into the back of his shirt. “Steve?” Steve waited until the room emptied, sans a still snoring Chester, before he finally turned to him. His face must have looked more devastated than he thought if the drop-in Bucky’s expression reflected anything. He immediately stepped closer, cupping Steve’s face in his hands. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

It took Steve another few minutes to find his voice, both hands curled protectively, almost possessively, into Bucky’s shirt as he took a breath and swallowed the lump in his throat. “If Pierce—“

“Stevie—“”

“Please, I need to say this,” he interrupted. Bucky nodded, his thumbs brushing lightly over his cheekbones in encouragement. “If Pierce is back, I don’t—he’s going to want you back, Buck. You and Rune were his right and left hands, you were his fear tactics, and you were the reason he was able to spread HYDRA as far as he had before he died. His clone is going to want that power back, but to do so he’s going to need you beneath his thumb again.”

“That won’t happen, Steve. I won’t let it, you won’t let it, nobody else in this building would let him take me. Besides, the words were erased, remember? That leash he always had on me is _gone_.”

“That doesn’t mean he still won’t try. And I can’t—he can’t have you again. He took you from me as soon as we’d found each other, and I won’t let that happen. _I won’t_. I love you and I can’t do this life without you. I tried, remember?” he reminded him almost desperately. He felt like he was whining at this point but he couldn’t give a damn as he pulled Bucky impossibly closer, their noses bumping. “Please. You can’t disappear on me, Bucky. I won’t make it this time.”

“Hey. Steve, look at me,” Bucky coaxed. Steve ignored the burning in his eyes as he obediently lifted his head. “I promised you back in Wakanda, remember? I am not leaving you again. Not ever, understand me? If Pierce thinks he can just waltz back and expect me to bow like the servant I was before, he’s got another thing comin’. I’m not the Winter Soldier anymore, I am Bucky fucking Barnes and when Pierce sees me again he’s going to wish he’d stayed dead. I love you, Steve, and I refuse to let anything else come between us. Especially not fucking HYDRA.”

“Promise me again. Promise me he won’t get you back.”

Bucky kissed him. “I promise,” he whispered before kissing him again, Steve whimpering into it. “I promise, Steve.”

“I love you.”

“I love you most,” Bucky kissed him one more time. Steve pulled him into his arms, most likely squeezing the life out of him, but Bucky thankfully didn’t complain. They stood like that for a long time, soaking each other in. Eventually it was Bucky who pulled away, though kept the contact linked through their hands. “Come on. We’ve got a bunker to infiltrate and HYDRA assholes to find.”

“So, usual business then?”

“Our favorite business, Stevie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Russian]  
> Котёнок - kitten


End file.
